Death is in Love with Us
by Saya-Sama
Summary: Lavi has one month to confess his love for Kanda before he dies. He can see the shinigami that's after him, and now he has to make sure that the shinigami doesn't off Yuu before he confesses. Death is in love with him, and it's jealous... LaviAre/LaviYuu
1. Prophesy of Death

**Another one! Saya has decided to do another LaviYuu, and this one is bound to end in a bittersweet way. Saya's never really written this pairing before, so please don't kill her if it sucks and there's OOC…. As there always is. LaviAre as a side dish too! This story is based off of "As the Death God Dictates" by Mimori Ao. You're probably all thinking that Saya should be updating something else, rather than writing short story after short story but...these are what Saya has inspiration for...so...yeah...D:  
**

**Disclaimer: the story idea belongs to Mimori Ao, the characters to Katsura Hoshino. Saya just owns the idea of putting the two together. **

**Rating: G-ish in this chapter. Rating might go up, but Saya isn't so sure. **

1. Prophesy of Death

"_Lavi…"_

Lavi's head shot off of his desk when he heard someone call his name. He'd never heard that voice before; it sounded distant and faded, almost as though whoever was saying it wasn't really there. He looked around the classroom curiously, trying to match that voice to a face there. It was free period at the moment, and just about everyone was talking animatedly, but it didn't seem like any of the chattering kids were talking to him. Even his two friends who sat next to him, Lenalee and Daisya, weren't talking to him at the moment, because he was tired from studying and needed some sleep.

"Hey guys," Lavi said, getting his two friends' attention. They immediately stopped their current conversation and gave him curious looks. "Did you hear someone call me just now? 'Cause I could've sworn someone did."

Lenalee gave Lavi a worried look. "No one called your name, everyone's just letting you sleep," she said, her expression showing worry.

"I didn't hear a thing either," Daisya said, though he seemed much less worried than Lenalee. "You've been studying your butt off for midterms, you're tired, and you were almost asleep just a second ago. You probably just dreamt it up."

Lavi thought that over for a moment before deciding that Daisya was probably right. He always studied hard when midterms and finals came around, because he needed to stay within the top three of his grade in order to keep his scholarship to this school. He was a senior student living alone, and he hardly had enough money to pay his rent, never mind pay for the tuition of this expensive school. So he'd been staying up a bit late the past week or so studying, and maybe he'd skipped a couple of meals; he supposed he could understand hearing things that weren't there.

"Right, right, I just need some sleep or something…" Lavi said, with an embarrassed laugh. Then he felt something very cold go down his spine which made him yelp. Today was turning out to be a very strange day for the redhead.

"Oi…" All three teenagers felt death breathing down their necks now; it was amazing how that one syllable could inspire so much fear in anyone who heard it. Slowly the three looked over to the source of the sound. Kanda Yuu, the most irritable person in the building, had his head down on his desk, his arm folded under it to act as a pillow. He turned his head just enough for the trio to see one of his glaring, piercing eyes. Another shiver went down their spines.

"I'm trying to sleep. So you'd best be good little kids now and use your inside voices or I'll personally make sure that you can never speak again." The three nodded and their voices dropped to a whisper.

"Damn…Lavi, I don't know how you managed to live to be a senior; you've known Kanda-kun since you were kids, right?" Daisya said, looking somewhat frightened. Lenalee looked to be in agreement.

"It's not really that amazing, Yuu-chan is m' friend, of course he wouldn't kill me!" Lavi said, as though Kanda really had the grace to spare someone out of friendship.

"I'm sort of amazed that you could put up with him for so long," Lenalee said, looking a bit guilty for talking badly of someone else. "He tests even my patience sometimes…"

"Yeah, but I'll never run out of patience when it comes to Yuu-chan, 'cause I love him!" Lavi said, just loud enough for the irate boy himself to hear. Kanda's response was to stand up from his seat with enough force to push his chair back into the next desk with a bang. He stormed quickly towards the door, hitting Lavi on the way out.

Lenalee and Daisya sighed together as Lavi pouted over the pain in his head.

"That's what you get for teasing Kanda-kun, of all people," Daisya said, shaking his head.

"You should know better than that…this has happened at least once a week since first year, when will you learn?" Lenalee said, giving Lavi a look of sympathy. It was then that he heard all of the sympathetic "poor Lavi-kuns" and the little "awe..." sounds the girls of the class were making. Half of the girls in class liked him, and the other half were hopeless fujyoshi, who seemed to fancy him part of an unrequited love.

Lavi, never one to deny the class a bit of fanservice, looked around with a thankful and still somewhat wounded look. He knew he looked cute right now, he didn't need a mirror to tell him that, and well… If Yuu-chan was going to be so adamant about not loving him, then the girls would just have to do for now.

"Thanks for the sympathy girls, you're all so sweet," he said, looking very much like a cute and wounded rabbit as he rubbed at his head injury. The "awes" and other fangirl-ish sounds that came after were like music to his ears. He was pretty sure that shy girl in the back of the class had just fainted a bit. Damn, he was good.

Lenalee, the only girl who was oblivious to his charms, sighed exasperatedly. "Shameless, the lot of you," She muttered as she shook her head.

000

"Hey, baka usagi," Kanda said as he met up with Lavi in the hall.

"You know I love that lil' pet name you've given me Yuu-chan, but every once in a while I'd love to hear ya say my name," Lavi said in reply to the "greeting" he'd gotten. Kanda huffed and blew off his comment.

"Whatever. Leave the door unlocked tonight, okaa-san thinks it's about time for you to pass out from exhaustion today and plans to send me over with leftovers," Kanda said, acting as though his own worry had nothing to do with running that particular errand for his mother. Lavi was very close with all of Yuu's family, and they tended to take care of him as if he were their own family.

"Lost your key, did ya, Yuu-chan?" Lavi asked jokingly.

"You never gave me one, asshole."

"I definitely should sometime," Lavi mumbled; he got the feeling that if he did, Kanda would throw it off the roof of the school though. Yuu rolled his eyes to this, and started walking down the hall.

"The rabbit kid is really stupid, hm… He should realize by now that it's because he's never serious with that pretty boy, that the kid won't go out with him. Really, he should just earnestly ask him out, that's all pretty boy is waiting for…"

Lavi looked around for the source of that voice. Again, it was here! That strange voice he'd heard before! It wasn't as far-away as before, but it was definitely that same voice.

After a moment of searching, Lavi found the person. There, sitting on the windowsill, was a kid who looked to be a few years younger than himself; a first year, maybe. But this kid wasn't in a uniform, he was dressed in loose white pants and a button up shirt of the same. Everything about the boy was white really; his hair was a silvery white like platinum, and his skin was pale as porcelain. The only colorful feature on the kid was a red star on his forehead that ran down the left side of his face.

As the child turned his head to look directly into Lavi's eyes, the redhead saw that even his eyes were a pale, stormy gray. It was strange, the way the boy stared. It was obvious that the kid was looking directly at him, and yet it seemed as if the boy didn't expect Lavi to be able to see him.

The white child was looking directly into his eyes as he sighed and said, "Well, it's not his fault he's taking his time. It's not like he knows that he's going to die soon."

Lavi's visible eye widened, the other was hidden under the eyepatch he'd worn ever since he was blinded in that eye. That kid had just said he was going to die soon. What the heck? He was a perfectly healthy 18-year-old boy, no way he was dying any time soon. Lavi walked up to the child at the window, giving him a strange look.

"Are you talking to me, kid?" Lavi asked, just to be sure that it was his death this kid was prophesying, and that he wasn't mistaken. The boy's eyes widened in surprise, as though he hadn't expected anyone to talk to him. The kid pointed to himself, asking "Me?" Lavi poked his forehead and replied "You." The child looked thoroughly freaked out, before he turned and promptly jumped out of the window.

For a moment, Lavi was just annoyed that he hadn't gotten an answer to his question. And then he started feeling a little off about what had just happened.

Weren't they on the fourth floor?

"HOLY _SHIT!_" Lavi yelled, and backed away from the window. He'd just seen someone jump out of a fourth story window! That was not normal. He hadn't even said anything to the kid to make him want to do that!

Everyone in the hall stopped what they were doing to look down at Lavi with worry and confusion. It only took a moment for Kanda to make his way back down the hall to him.

"Why are you making such a scene, rabbit?" He asked, though his annoyed tone couldn't cover up the worry in his eyes. Lavi pointed to the window.

"Some kid just jumped outta the window!" Lavi explained, looking shaken. Kanda's eyes widened and he leaned out of the window to check the grounds below. His brows furrowed as he searched and found nothing.

"There's no one out there, baka."

"What? But that kid definitely jumped!" Kanda shook his head, grabbing Lavi's arm and dragging him to the window.

"Look! There's no one down there. No one fell, now stop saying that and tell me what's going on," Kanda demanded. Lavi scanned the grounds and found that indeed, there was no one outside at the moment.

"There really is no one there…" Lavi said quietly, as though he couldn't believe it. Kanda sighed and pulled Lavi back from the window.

"You really are ready to pass out, aren't you? You haven't slept in days, and you look like the dead walking. You probably just fell asleep on your feet and imagined it," Kanda rationalized. Lavi gave him a strange look.

"D' ya really think I could fall asleep standing up?"

"You've done it before."

"Right," Lavi said, shaking his head. Maybe he was just seriously tired and stressed, and he was seeing things? "Sorry for the trouble then, I'm just gonna go take a nap in the infirmary. Tell Nyne-sensei that I won't be in class for me?" Lavi asked, and Kanda nodded, before pushing Lavi in the direction of the nurse's office.

000

Lavi sighed wearily when he entered his apartment. It was a mess, as always, but Lavi hardly cared, because the only area that mattered was perfectly clean: the kitchen. Lavi put some water on the stove and got out a bowl of ramen; he lived off of those cheap little bowls of noodles.

Sitting at the kitchen table, Lavi got out his homework and the test prep books he'd gotten from the used book store he worked at on weekends. Even though he'd already reached the point of seeing things because of stress and lack of sleep, he still had to study; midterms were in a week. At least he'd gotten a nice nap while he was in the nurse's office. Komui-sensei was pretty nice about letting him crash there every once in a while. Sure, he'd missed all of his afternoon classes, but Kanda was coming over to bring him dinner, and Lavi knew that the man would bring his notes for Lavi to copy, too.

Just as Lavi got ready to dig into his Japanese lit. homework, it happened again. That boy just…_materialized_ out of thin air in the only other seat in his kitchen. Once again, the boy seemed obvious to the fact that Lavi could see him, and instead of saying anything or acknowledging Lavi's existence at all, he rested his chin on his entwined hands, leaned over, and stared interestedly at his homework.

Lavi stared at the kid incredulously. He must've been a ghost, if he could just pop out of nowhere like that, and jump out of a window without hitting the ground and getting hurt. But since when did Japanese ghosts have feet? Then again, this kid definitely didn't look Japanese…So it was a foreign ghost? Was Lavi being haunted by the ghost of a foreigner? He faintly wondered if it spoke Japanese.

"Hey kid, are you lost? This is my apartment, not the afterlife," Lavi said, heaving a sigh. What else could he do? This ghost didn't seem to want to hurt him (even though he did say that wonderfully disturbing thing about his death), so Lavi didn't want to be too rude to him, lest he decide to push up the expiration date on Lavi's life…

"Of course this isn't the afterlife; it's way too messy to be," the boy replied. All Lavi noticed was that his Japanese was perfect.

"Hey! You try bein' a poor scholarship student, you'll quickly see that there is no time for keeping house!" Lavi huffed out, feeling indignant. How dare this ghost come into his house uninvited and say it's messy? It wasn't his fault that he had received no prior notice about the kid's visiting.

After a moment of fuming, Lavi regained control of himself. He was talking to a ghost, he should be afraid, he should not be chatting him up.

"So what are you doing in my apartment, anyway? Are you following me for some reason? And what was that crap about me dying earlier?" Lavi asked, scrutinizing the boy. For a moment, the ghost contemplated whether or not he should say anything to Lavi. As the redhead continued to inspect the ghost, he noticed something: for a dead person, he was incredibly cute, what with those pretty round eyes and those adorable little expressions he was making.

Finally the kid came to a decision about telling Lavi what he wanted to know.

"I'm here because I've been charged with monitoring you for the next month or so. That's also why I'm following you, and earlier I was saying you should ask that pretty boy out soon if you ever plan to at all, because you're going to die a month from now," the boy said nonchalantly, though he did look a tad bit apologetic near the end of his explanation.

Lavi's jaw dropped. This had to be a joke; there was no way that this kid was going to haunt him until he died. There was no way that this kid could be haunting him _because_ he was going to die. Who was this person, and why did he know this?

"You've got to be shitting me," Lavi said, shaking his head in disbelief, "There's no way I'm dying in a month kid, and how would you know anyway?"

"I would know because it's my job to make sure you do," the colorless boy said, as though it were nothing. Lavi blinked, he just couldn't imagine this was true. If it was then he'd spent his high school years slaving away for nothing, he wouldn't even graduate! And worse than that, he really would never get a chance with Yuu! Lavi just couldn't stand to think that he was going to die so young.

Lavi's moment of disbelief was interrupted when he heard a cell phone ring; it wasn't his, he couldn't afford one. The ghost pulled his cell phone out of his front pocket, flipped it open, and began talking with the person on the other line; since when did ghosts have cells? A moment later, the boy flipped the phone shut.

"I'm only telling you this because you can see me; you know that girl who had to drop out of your class because she got pregnant? She's going into labor tonight, and both she and the baby will die. I'm the one who's going to take them. Believe me if you want, or don't, your choice. Either way, it wouldn't hurt your chances any to ask that boy out," the ghost said, before heading for the only window in Lavi's apartment.

Before he could think, Lavi grabbed the kid's arm. That was strange when he thought about it; he shouldn't be able to touch a ghost, but he had earlier too, hadn't he?

"Wait, ghost-san!" Lavi pleaded, the fact that he was going to die soon was only just starting to settle in on him, and he needed an explanation.

"I'm not a ghost, Lavi-san," the kid said, "and you're hurting me." Lavi quickly let go of the kid and stepped back. So… This child wasn't a ghost, wasn't human, and was here to make sure he died in a month. Not only that, but he was going off to "take" his ex-classmate and her child after they died…

Did that mean that this kid was…? But those didn't exist.

"I'm a death god, and I'll be back; you can ask questions then."

Oh goodness. Lavi had a death god after him, a shinigami was going to leave through his window, and was planning to come back! As the shinigami left through his window, Lavi couldn't help but think about how insane this was. When the kid disappeared, Lavi slowly made his way back to his kitchen before plopping down in a chair. He put his head down on the table carefully, and let himself drift off into sleep. Surely he would wake back up and find that the whole day had been a dream.

000

Lavi woke to the smell of food that seemed much more appetizing and healthy than the ramen he'd forgotten about before he went to sleep. He lifted his groggy head and blearily looked around. Standing by the stove, pouring some wonderful-smelling tea into a mug was Kanda, who had yet to notice he was awake. The food he was smelling was the dinner that Kanda had brought over.

'_Crap, if Yuu is here then it must be really late…'_ Lavi thought, as she shook the tiredness from his head and stretched. He let out a wide yawn that caught Yuu's attention.

"If you're so tired, you should sleep more. Studying won't help if you fall asleep during the test," Kanda scolded, before placing the finished cup of tea down in front of Lavi. Lavi thanked him before wondering why he had fallen asleep in the first place; it wasn't like him to take a nap while studying.

Then he remembered. That kid, the shinigami, his death… Lavi wanted to scream in frustration, but he didn't want to startle Kanda. Besides, how uncool would it be to lose his head in front of the guy he liked? Not that Kanda hadn't seen him explode before, they'd known each other since preschool, of course Kanda had seen him get angry and upset.

"You're right… I'll just have to cut down on the studying for a bit. If I just stayed awake in class, I'm sure I'd learn just as much anyway."

"Damn straight you would, so get your act together. Why the hell did you choose that stuck-up school anyway? It would've been easier on you to go to a cheaper school, that way you wouldn't have to study yourself to death to keep a scholarship," Kanda said, sitting across from Lavi with his own cup of tea.

"But you go to that school…" Lavi mumbled, and he sort of hoped that Kanda wouldn't hear him. It seemed like such a foolish thing to do, choosing that school just because the kid he liked went there. It had been worth it though; they'd been in the same class all through high school.

Kanda quietly placed the cup back on the table's surface, giving Lavi an incredulous look. Lavi winced; apparently, Kanda had heard him. Damnit.

"Did you really just say what I think you just said?"

"U-uh…I'm clearly still half-asleep, so just disregard that," Lavi said nervously. "So anyway, can I borrow your notes from out afternoon classes?" Lavi wasn't ready to just openly confess anything to Kanda yet, he didn't know if he ever would be. Sure, he said he loved Kanda all the time, but that was usually in jest and Lavi's was a horrid flirt besides. Kanda wouldn't believe him if he said that like this, would he? Even if he did believe Lavi, that didn't mean Kanda would accept him or start going out with him.

But then again, even that shinigami had said that Yuu would probably say yes to him if he asked him out seriously… Goodness, a death god had given him love advice… How odd. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts though, Lavi had notes to copy. Why bother though? He was going to die in a month, he'd heard his death sentence from the god of death himself, what reason was there to go on acting as he always did?

In the end, Lavi decided not to say anything. Yuu was simply here to bring him food and lend Lavi his notes, all confessing would do is make Kanda uncomfortable. The last thing Lavi wanted was to make Yuu so uncomfortable that he didn't visit the apartment again.

Just as Lavi decided this though, that _kid_ was back, standing behind Kanda. Lavi realized from the way a little shiver went down Kanda's spine that he sensed the shinigami's presence somewhat.

"God, it's cold in here. Don't you have a damn space heater or something?" Kanda asked when he found he couldn't stop himself from shivering. The shinigami seemed to find picking on poor Yuu-chan entertaining, and smirked the slightest bit.

"So this is pretty boy, hm? From what I've seen he's a real asshole. What was it you called him…? Yuu-chan, right?"

"Kanda!" Lavi corrected the shinigami; he didn't want anyone, not even a death god, calling Kanda by his given name except for him.

Of course, when Kanda gave him a confused and mildly surprised look (after all, Lavi didn't usually just say his family name on a whim), Lavi realized that he had indeed just said Kanda's name out loud for what must've seemed like no reason.

"Uh…Yuu-chan, you're cold, so I'll just go get a blanket or two… I'm feeling a bit chilly myself. Hehe, maybe I should get that ol' quilt out and we can sit on the floor and do our homework together like we used to in middle school?" Lavi joked, as the uncertain wavering in his voice slowly tapered out. Kanda was too embarrassed by having their old study habits brought to light to question Lavi's awkwardness.

"Awe, what a cute thought…This guy seems like a prick, it's amazing he'd ever do something like that," the shinigami said to Lavi as he went into his room to get the old quilt he still had stored in his closet.

"Yuu-chan used to be adorable, but high school knocked the cute right outta him, so now I can only get him to be nice when he's here. And could you please not talk t' me when other people are in the room? I'm compelled to answer you, but I don't enjoy soundin' crazy." Lavi sighed and sneezed a little as he pulled the thick blanket from his closet; it was a bit dusty, he hadn't used it in so long.

Lavi walked back into the kitchen with his prize, and was greeted by a curious look from Kanda.

"Is there someone here? You were talking." To Kanda, it was inconceivable that he would've missed it if there was someone else in the apartment. It only had two rooms, the kitchen and the main room. There was the closet too but who would Lavi hide in there?

"Nope, just…talking to myself…" Lavi sighed and let his shoulder sag; so much for not seeming crazy.

000

"G' morning Dai-kun!" Lavi greeted his friend, using a nickname that he only used when he wanted something. The fact that he only waved at Lenalee that morning also made the fact that he wanted a favor obvious.

"Sorry Lavi, I didn't bring extra lunch money today…" Daisya said before Lavi could ask; that was the request Lavi usually made.

"Geez, I'm not always after money here…" Lavi grumbled. He didn't like to borrow from people, it made him actually feel as poor as he was, and he always paid people back the next day.

"Then what is it you need today?" Lenalee asked; she'd dived for her purse when Lavi had called out to Daisya, also assuming that Lavi needed lunch money.

"Uh…Daisya…your family is tight with some of the priests at that nearby church, right…?" Lavi asked. Both of his friends gave him odd looks.

"Yeah… You need t' make a confession or something?" Daisya asked, looking mildly amused by the idea.

"Um…actually….I need something a bit stranger than that…" Lavi said as he took his seat. He rubbed the back of his head nervously and looked to the ceiling. "I've…sort've got a god of death followin' me around…"

Lenalee and Daisya exchanged worried glances before they started whispering loudly to each other behind their hands.

"Do you think too many sleepless nights have caused him to start hallucinating?"

"I think he's finally started going crazy… I knew too much studying was bad for your mental health…"

"Hey! Don't ship me off to the loony bin just yet! Seriously guys, I'm not crazy! Some kid who looked like a first year started showin' up everywhere yesterday! He even managed to get into my apartment without me noticing it! He was all like 'I'm a death god,' and 'you will die in a month.'"

"Not seven days?"

"No, not seven days, Dai."

"A right shame. Sheesh, ghosts don't know how to make a good reference these days." Daisya shook his head as though the shinigami's disuse of movie quotes was more upsetting than news of Lavi's impending doom.

"I'm serious guys!" Lavi said, already feeling exasperated. "This kid showed up and told me I was gonna _die_ in a month. And then, just to prove to me that he was really a shinigami, he told me that Asako-san died in labor last night and so did her child. Either of you know if that's true or not?" Lavi asked, and both he and Daisya looked at Lenalee. Her brother, the school nurse Komui-sensei, was really just moonlighting at the school, his real job was at the local hospital. If anyone would know about a death at the hospital, it was her. Lenalee's eyes were wide and her mouth agape.

"Ho-how did you know…? I only found out a few hours ago from nii-san, and he was so upset when he came home… No one knows about it yet though, outside of the hospital…"

"My lil' death god buddy was the one that off-ed her, that's why! He told me he was going to "take" her and her baby, and then left my apartment through the window. And now that I know it was true…oh God, I'm gonna die…" Lavi slumped over in his chair. He felt exhausted. He'd just spent his youth working his ass off to succeed in school so that hopefully he'd be able to make something of his orphaned self, and now it was all for nothing. Sure, he'd pulled his pranks and had his fun, but now he just wished he hadn't spent so much of his time working… Oh, his dear, irretrievable youth…

Daisya and Lenalee could tell that at the moment, their friend just needed to be left alone, and so they left him to his thoughts.

He just couldn't believe it. He was going to die. But how? He was perfectly healthy, maybe he'd die in an accident? Or maybe some random, fast-working disease would descend on him, and take him away? Would anyone miss him when he died? His parents had died when he was in junior high, so maybe he'd see them? He hoped Lenalee and Daisya would miss him, because he knew he'd miss them. Would Yuu miss him? Would Yuu cry or be upset? So many questions… Lavi had never wondered about death before, he'd been too focused on the future that he'd never even considered not having one.

So many people he wouldn't see again, so many things that would be left undone… He wanted to live! He didn't want to leave everything behind, he didn't want to never see his friends again. He didn't want to leave Yuu…

That was right, he wouldn't be with Kanda anymore, either.

Abruptly, Lavi stood from his chair. Everyone in the class had looked to him curiously; class had started while he was brooding.

"Sensei, I need to see the nurse," he said, and left the room before his teacher could give him permission to. Daisya and Lenalee watched their friend leave with worried faces, but oddly enough it was Kanda who went ahead and told the teacher that he was going to make sure that Lavi actually got to the nurse's office. Naturally, he didn't bother to ask for permission to leave, and the teacher was quite used to that by now. It was one of the few instances where Kanda showed that he cared in such an obvious way that anyone could see it.

For someone in the throws of despair, Lavi walked pretty fast; Kanda didn't catch up with him until they reached the nurse's office. Lavi had already crawled under the sheets of a free bed by the time Kanda had entered the office.

"Ah…if Yuu-chan's here, who's going to take notes for me?" Lavi asked, though his voice only held a weak imitation of his usual cheer.

"You've got other friends to lend you their notes," Kanda said, dismissing the topic.

"Yeah, but Daisya's hand-writing is chicken scratch at best, hieroglyphics at worst… And Lenalee's got that loopy girly hand-writing that I can't read for the life of me..."

"So I heard you're being haunted," Kanda said, cutting straight to the point.

"Eavesdropping is a bad habit to have, Yuu-chan."

"You talk so loud it was impossible not to hear you."

"Damn, and here I thought I was being quiet."

"You failed." Kanda sighed and shook his head, this was hardly the time to be talking about whether or not Lavi could actually speak quietly. "You've been acting strangely since yesterday afternoon, is it that ghost's fault?"

"He's a shinigami, and yeah… I know it looked like I was talking to myself a lot last night, but really, that kid just wouldn't stop asking questions, and answering when people talk to me is sort of a compulsive habit." Lavi brought the sheets over his head, he didn't want to see the incredulous, annoyed look on Yuu's face; there was no way Kanda would believe him, he hardly believed it himself.

"Are you sure that it's real?" Kanda asked; the new depression that formed on the cot Lavi's was occupying hinted to him that Kanda had taken a seat next to him. Lavi felt it as Yuu slowly pulled the sheet down and away from his face.

"It proved that it was real, yeah… I could even touch it, Yuu. He was there… And he proved that when he says someone's gonna die, they're gonna die so it looks like I've got all of one month left to live…"

"Just one month?" Kanda didn't like the sound of that. Even though he would never publicly admit it, Kanda did care about Lavi. He didn't want the redhead to die so quickly, especially not after watching Lavi work towards some bright future or other for so many years. Lavi had too much to do, he couldn't die in a month.

"Yeah…a month. Yuu, I don't wanna die, I don't want to die…" Lavi said, and he definitely sounded like he believed he was going to die. Kanda was so shocked by the news and the tone Lavi was using that he didn't try to stop the redhead from slowly wrapping his arms around his middle, as though Kanda would anchor him to life. Kanda wasn't really sure what to do to help Lavi, he felt useless in this situation, and he hated it. The only thing he felt he could do was not push Lavi away from him. Awkwardly, Kanda placed his hand on the top of Lavi's head, and smoothed back his hair. Just Kanda's solid presence was enough to comfort Lavi, but it made him feel even better knowing that the older boy wanted him to feel better. His visible eye that had until that moment, been staring off into space, was now slowly shutting.

They were almost shut when he caught a glimpse of the shinigami, peaking around the curtain that surrounded the bed. Lavi shot up from his position on the cot, startling Kanda.

"What is it?" Kanda asked, feeling a bit embarrassed now for trying to help Lavi, when he was clearly not cut out for such things.

"He's right there!" Lavi exclaimed, pointing to the shinigami, who decided to walk into the closed off area. The spirit waved as though Kanda could actually see him. Kanda looked in the direction Lavi pointed to, but saw nothing.

"I think only you can see it Lavi, because I can't see a damn thing over there, except the curtain," Kanda answered truthfully.

"How do ya not see that bizarre lookin' kid? He's white from head-to-toe, with a red pentacle on his forehead. He's the reason why you were so cold yesterday, he seemed to enjoy picking on ya like that. He's waving at you now and…. God, I must sound crazy…" Lavi shook his head, bringing his hands up to his face. Kanda nodded truthfully, because Lavi did sound s bit crazy at the moment.

"You sound crazy, but if you say it's there, I'll believe you…"

"Wow, what a guy," the shinigami said, looking a mite impressed. "He must really trust you if he can believe you without seeing me. I think you just might be making progress, Lavi-san. You've still got 29 days, use them wisely," the death god said, and then he vanished just as quickly as he had appeared. A cold shiver ran down Lavi's spine as he was reminded of just how little time he had left.

"29 days…huh.."

**Yeah, this is starting out sort of sad, but it'll end happy, really... er...bittersweet? No special notes for this one, except the whole shinigami means death god, for anyone who didn't pick up on that…So yeah…Thanks for reading, and Saya hopes you can put up with the OOC…**


	2. My Name

**Chapter two~! Oh gosh, Saya hopes this story goes well…she sort of just typed it up without thinking D: Usually for contained stories like this, Saya would write most, if not all of, the chapters ahead of time but…eeeeh… it so didn't happen this time…excitement…**

**Disclaimer: the story idea belongs to Mimori Ao, the characters to Katsura Hoshino. Saya just owns the idea of putting the two together. **

**Rating: G-ish in this chapter. Rating might go up, but Saya isn't so sure. **

2. My Name

"29 days…huh." Lavi couldn't even find it in himself to feel depressed when he realized he'd wasted a whole day just being upset over his death. He knew about it now, and sure he didn't want it, but should he really be wasting his precious last days like this? In a way he was lucky; since he knew ahead of time he could make sure he didn't waste his last days.

"29 days?" Kanda repeated, reminding Lavi that he was still in the room with him. Lavi shook himself out of his revelry and looked back at Kanda.

"Huh? Oh yeah, that's how many days I've got left, it seems. So the countdown has begun…" The redhead sighed forlornly, he didn't know if he wanted to just curl up and wallow in self-pity for the next month, or just give up everything he'd ever worked on in favor of spending his last few weeks goofing off and having fun.

"Well, you sound wonderfully resigned," Kanda said, looking very unhappy about this. Lavi shrugged, he was starting to feel numb already. Perhaps it would be best if he just lived his last days out doing what he usually did? That way if he didn't really die he wouldn't have to worry about having messed his life up too badly?

"I'm just…very unsure of what to do at this point," Lavi answered honestly; really, he was surprised Kanda didn't think he was crazy. Could Kanda really just sit there and watch him talk to what seemed to be nothing, and then really believe he was sane? Maybe Yuu really did have a lot of faith in him.

"Hey Yuu, why are you even listenin' to what I'm saying? I mean, I know I sound crazy right now."

"You do sound crazy, yes," Kanda said bluntly, and for a moment Lavi's shoulders sagged in defeat, "But you also look afraid, like you really believe you're going to die. Besides, I know how you are when you're lying, I can tell you aren't. To you, at least, that thing is real, so we've got to get rid of it."

Lavi sort of wanted to turn into a blubbering mess and hug Yuu at the moment. So he really believed that Lavi was seeing this thing? Lavi had always known Kanda was a good friend, but this was just amazing.

"Putting aside that the thing following you is a death god and out for your hide," Kanda said, bring Lavi's wandering attention back to him, "there's someone following you around, and you don't like it, right?"

"Right."

"Then I'll find a way to get rid of it, so don't worry over it too much by yourself." Lavi looked up at Kanda; now he was offering to help, too? When had Kanda become so giving? Usually he just stayed out of anything that didn't involve him, and yet here he was, sticking his nose into Lavi's problem.

"You always try to do everything yourself. Let me… think with you for once, you ass." Lavi's expression turned into one of surprise. Had Kanda really just said that? Boy, he sure was full of surprises today. Abruptly, Kanda stood up and headed for the curtain that was pulled around Lavi's cot. Lavi was sure that Kanda had done this to hide his face from him. No doubt he was red up to his ears now.

"For now, let's just get you home, you're in no condition to be in school," Yuu said quickly, as though the air in the infirmary was suddenly too stifling for him. Lavi grinned just a bit at this, and got up to follow Yuu home.

000

"Hey, Yuu," Lavi called out just as Kanda was turning to leave his apartment for the night.

"What?" Kanda looked back over his shoulder, giving Lavi a curious look.

"Thanks for believin' me, even though I probably sounded insane to ya," Lavi said with a small but genuine smile. Kanda turned to face forward again quickly, but Lavi could tell that the boy was probably blushing.

"Yeah well, that's because you're the one who said it," Kanda said, looking over his shoulder one last time to stare Lavi in the eye. The redhead's lone green eye widened just a bit, and Kanda rolled his eyes. "Don't you get it yet?" He asked, and then made a calm retreat that left Lavi feeling exceptionally fluttery. All he could get himself to think was that Yuu was really cool sometimes, as juvenile as that sounded.

000

Lavi's spirits couldn't be higher while still being within his physical body at the moment. Sure, he was heading out to school, which had become a complete waste of time for him since he'd learned he was going to die, but he couldn't get what Kanda had said out of his mind! It had definitely sounded like Kanda was confessing in his own roundabout way, but that could've just been his own mind embellishing his memory…

So he hummed a happy little tune that he'd heard on the radio the night before at his part-time job. It was an English song and he was pretty sure it was from the mid-80s but well, the 80's would never die.

That morning would've been just dandy, if it hadn't been ruined by the horrified scream that had come from some girl who was also walking to school that morning, and the screeching sound of tires slipping over asphalt. Lavi looked around wildly to find the source of the disruption, and saw that a truck was swerving dangerously, trying to stay on the narrow road. The girl who had screamed was most likely on one of the girls from the group closest to the car.

"Oh goodness! That's horrible!" One yelled, pointing to the side of the road. Lavi grimaced when he saw the fresh road kill. It was a dog, it seemed, a small one, probably a stray. One of the girls called the pound to clean it up, and then they moved on, leaving just Lavi at the scene.

And that was when he showed up, the shinigami. Slowly he materialized next to the dog and kneeled down on the ground next to it. He gently tapped the top of the stray's head, which was thankfully still in one piece. A gentle light enveloped the dog before leaving it in the form of a small orb. The death god picked it up and lifted it to the sky. Shining, the orb that Lavi could only assume was the animal's soul levitated, and then popped. The clouds in the sky seemed to split just so that the soul could ascend beyond them.

Lavi stared at the shinigami with wide eyes, feeling just a bit moved by how beautiful that had been. He had always been easily touched by beautiful things (that was probably one of the reasons Lavi had been attracted to Kanda when they were younger), so something like that really made him want to take a minute to appreciate it. If death was that pretty, maybe it wasn't so bad?

Of course, that display had not been nearly enough to prepare him for what came next. The shinigami turned and spotted him, but all Lavi noticed when he did were the tears that streaked down his face, rolling down that bizarre scar on the left side of his face. This, watching a shinigami cry, was also beautiful in a morbid way.

Lavi was so entranced that he hardly noticed when the pound workers came to take the dog away. The shinigami watched as they took its body away, before wiping his eyes and sitting in the grass. He looked so alone, sitting huddled on the ground with his knees pulled up to his chest and the tear streaks still on his face. Lavi couldn't help himself, he walked over and sat next to the shinigami.

"So even death gods cry, hm?" Lavi asked, trying to sound nonchalant; he knew he wouldn't want anyone bringing special attention to him crying in public. For a moment the shinigami didn't answer.

"Dogs…are nice," it said after a moment of silence. Lavi wanted to make one of those little "Awe" noises that his fans always made when Kanda abused him in class. This cute little shinigami was crying over a dog it had never met before just because he liked dogs? That was just too precious.

"Don't worry kid, the dog was sparkling and happy when it went up, right? Nothin' to worry 'bout!" Lavi said, attempting to cheer the kid up. Why was he trying to cheer up a shinigami though? The very shinigami that would kill him in 28 days, at that! What, was he going to try and cheer it up when it cried over his death? Would it bother to cry over a human, or did this one only like dogs?

Lavi dug through his bag and took out the apple he'd brought in his lunch, offering it to the shinigami. Said death god just raised an eyebrow at him.

"Death gods don't eat."

"What? No way, I thought they loved apples! That's the last time I listen to a manga when it concerns shinigami…" Lavi pouted a bit at the injustice done to him.

"It's true. I'm not human, so I don't get hungry or tired or anything. I guess I could eat if I felt like doing something weird but… I'm not exactly tangible in the plane of the living," the shinigami said, and Lavi noted how the apple went right through his hand when he tried to pick it up.

"Then how come I can touch you?" Lavi asked, with a curious expression.

"I don't know, you're weird."

"How blunt… But anyway, while I'm asking questions, what's your name? You know mine but I don't know yours… I'm getting tired of thinking of you as 'the shinigami,' or other such variants of that," Lavi said, and shifted to face the shinigami.

"No answer."

"Come on, tell me. It can't be that embarrassing."

"Like I said, I have no answer."

"So you don't have a name?"

"Of course not," the shinigami gave Lavi a look like he was slow, "What do I need a name for? I mean, people can't see me, except for you, and shinigami rarely ever work together. We have no families either, we just sort of…appear one day, and know what to do. With no friends or family, what's the point of having a name?"

While Lavi couldn't deny that having a name was pointless when there was no one to call it, he still felt that a nameless existence was a lonely one. He could only imagine how much more bleak it must've seemed, knowing that he didn't really have an identity, not even on his own plane of existence. His expression must've been one of pity, for the shinigami went on.

"I exist to do my job and guide souls to Heaven, that's it. I won't age or die, I'll just be happy doing what I do."

"But that's still so lonely," Lavi said before he could stop himself. He knew a thing or two about being lonely, especially since his parents had been dead for so long. His apartment felt empty with just him in it, that's why he'd always loved it when Kanda came over, because then he wasn't alone.

"So you mean to say you've never eaten good food, or just kicked back with a few good friends? Can you really be happy doing that for the rest of eternity? How can you say that? I'd rather die than have to live like that! How can you just be okay with that?" Lavi couldn't help but feel a bit enraged on the shinigami's behalf; what being in the universe had thought it was a good idea to make such lonely creatures? It was cruel.

"I suppose one can't miss what one had never had."

"Say that all ya want but I'm not buying it!" Lavi declared, giving the shinigami a stern look. It looked back at him with curiosity, probably wondering why he was so angry. Lavi wondered the same thing.

"If you don't have a name, then we'll start there! I'm gonna give you a name, right here, right now!" Lavi exclaimed, standing up in his excitement. The shinigami scoffed.

"Don't need one."

"AHA! You don't _need_ one, but you didn't say you don't _want_ one!" Lavi pointed down at the shinigami with a grin, he was making progress in his mind. The shinigami blushed a bit at this and Lavi contemplated how strange it was that a shinigami could do that. Then it shook its head, as though embarrassed.

"No, no, I don't need or want one!"

"Come on kid, even if it's just me, I wanna call you by name," Lavi said with a smile. For a moment the shinigami looked too surprised to speak, and Lavi took that time to think of a name. The ghost was a foreigner, clearly, so it needed a foreign name… and well it was a he, and a cute he at that, so he needed a cute, short, simple name…

"Hey, you know… giving me a name won't change the fact that I'm killing you in 28 days," the shinigami said, which totally killed Lavi's giving mood for good. He hit his forehead hard, cursing and calling himself stupid under his breath. For a moment he couldn't help but think of the shinigami as just a cute kid and had forgotten that he was trying to name a shinigami. Damn it all.

"You forgot about school, too."

"Oh hell! Yuu-chan must be so worried now!" Lavi said, and quickly turned to run towards the school.

'_Idiot! Getting all buddy-buddy with a shinigami!'_

"Lavi." Said redhead stopped in his tracks when he heard that innocent-sounding voice call out to him. Why did that shinigami sound so sweet, and why hadn't he noticed it sooner?

"I'm looking forward to a name," he said, and gave Lavi what had to be one of the most pure smiles he'd ever seen in his life. Lavi couldn't help but nod in an almost shy way before turning to dash towards school. He refused to admit that it was the shinigami's fault, but his heart was pounding just a bit and his face felt a bit hot.

Was that kid really a death god? Lavi wasn't afraid of him at all, he actually found the kid to be cute and sweet. He had smiled and cried over a dog, just because he liked dogs. He'd even said he was looking forward to being named. He seemed far too sweet and gentle to be a god of death.

'_I can't get myself to dislike that kid.'_

000

Lavi was panting and breathing heavily when he finally made it to his classroom. He was happy that he'd made it in time for second period, but he still couldn't believe that he'd just sat around and talked to a shinigami and missed his first class. Just as his breath evened out, he was hit over the head roughly.

"_Ow_….pain…" Lavi whined and turned around to see who'd hit him; he already knew who of course, Kanda's knuckles had made a permanent indentation on his head, he was sure.

"Are you an idiot?" Kanda asked looking very annoyed with Lavi. "One day you're saying you're going to die and the next you don't come into school on time. Your little friends were having fits all through first lesson."

Lavi blinked a few times before what Kanda said sunk in. Oh, right, Lenalee and Daisya knew about the death god thing, he'd probably really spooked them by coming in so late. Judging from Kanda's anger, he was probably worried too and just didn't want to admit it. Despite himself, a smile crept onto his lips at the thought.

"And now you're smiling. You know, some girl told me that she'd seen you talking to yourself earlier this morning by the roadside, are you going insane?" Kanda asked, giving Lavi a skeptical look. Lavi pouted and shook his head.

"No! I was talking to that shinigami and sorta got…caught up? And I was just smiling 'cause I was happy to think you were worried about me!" Lavi huffed. Kanda made a surprised expression that bordered on denial. Clearly he was going to deny worrying.

"I-Idiot! I said your two friends had been worried, not me! I don't worry," Kanda said, scoffing in a forced manner and turning his face away. Lavi made a little "I don't believe that for a second" smirk that was almost cat-like.

"Sure ya don't Yuu-chan, sure ya don't. But in any case, I'm here now, no need to freak out," Lavi said with an apologetic smile. Kanda looked him over to be sure he seemed alright, before grabbing his arm and pulling him toward the classroom.

"Yeah, you are, and we've got a plan to make sure you stay here…"

'_A plan..?'_

000

"Lavi..!" Lenalee was misty-eyed with relief when she saw Kanda leading Lavi into the classroom. Aside from the fact that most of the class was surprised to see Kanda making non-violent physical contact with someone and was therefore gawking, Lavi felt a bit awkward because of just how much his friends were worried. It was sweet, but guilt-inspiring.

"You're a jerk to have worried us like that!" Daisya said, pouting. Lavi heard Kanda scoff and suspected he'd rolled his eyes, and sat down with the same sorry grin he'd had on his face since he'd first seen Kanda.

"Sorry, sorry…just got sort of caught up this morning," Lavi said, hoping to stop the worry before Lenalee really broke into tears. She pouted at him, showing that she didn't appreciate the vague excuse but let it slide.

Daisya sighed in a relieved way before saying, "Well, at least you're alright. Really! You told us about that evil spirit-"

"-Shinigami."

"Fine, that_ shinigami_ yesterday and really freaked us out! Do you know how many worst-case scenarios went through our heads when you didn't show up? But it's okay now, you're here now. Kanda-kun was telling us about it this morning, and we all decided that we'd bring you to my church to have it exorcized. Tiedoll-san will be sure to get rid of it!"

"Yuu-chan…?" Lavi's eye widened and he looked back to Kanda, who once again had his head down on his desk. He let out a little "Che" but didn't look up at them.

"You two have damned big mouths. Couldn't wait to tell him until _after_ school, could you?" He muttered, and the three friends couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"So…you asked them about exorcizing it?" Lavi asked. He was starting to feel uneasy about getting rid of it. He didn't really know why the idea was so worrying, but he just felt wrong about exorcizing the boy.

"Yeah, I did. What about it?" Kanda asked in that gruff, angry voice that he usually used to cover up his embarrassment.

"Nothin', just…thanks," Lavi said, not really sure how to tell Kanda or his friends about his unease. How strange would it seem if he said, "Please don't exorcize my shinigami! He's cute." Besides, they were all just worried about him, he should be grateful.

Class started, but Lavi was too unfocused to pay attention; luckily he was one of those people who could learn without paying attention. Would he really be able to get rid of the shinigami? Would the exorcism work, or would it just make the shinigami angry at him? What if it did work? Would it kill the shinigami, or just make him go back to where he came from? And if it didn't die and didn't get pissed at him and kill him early, then what would he name it?

'_If he's gone, I might be saved…I might not die. If he's gone…'_ Lavi thought back to the teary face of the shinigami as it cried over a stray dog when it died (would the shinigami cry for him, too?), and his smile when he said he was looking forward to a name. Could Lavi really stand to hurt that kid? Maybe exorcism was painless, then he wouldn't feel so bad…

'_Don't think about it Lavi! You've got a life to live, you can't let it end just because you have a cute shinigami after you. You've gotta graduate, you've gotta really tell Yuu that you like him! You can't die yet!'_

000

Lavi blinked when he walked into the church Daisya had lead them too. He himself wasn't a religious person, and neither was Lenalee, Kanda was a Buddhist who didn't actually give a damn about Buddhism. Daisya was one of the few Christians Lavi knew (they didn't exactly run rampant in their town), and he happened to live on the same street as the priest at this church.

So when Lavi saw the church that'd he overlooked a million times on the way to work, he was surprised to find that it was there. He was a bit more surprised to find the resident priest not doing…whatever priests usually do, but instead messily painting with oil paints on a drawing board. His cassock was smudged with blues and yellows and reds, and there was a bit of paint on his face, too.

He looked up when the four walked into the church and smiled in a fatherly way when he saw them. He put his half-finished painting on one of the pews, before walking over to them.

"Hello Daisya-kun, is one of these three the friend you told me about?" The man asked, as he looked over the four teens. His eyes immediately stopped on Lavi. "It's the redhead, right?"

"Yeah Tiedoll-san, he's the one with the ghost problem," Daisya answered with an easy-going smile. Clearly he felt much more comfortable here than anyone else did. Lavi was about to sigh and remind them all that it was a shinigami, for Heaven's sake, but the kindly priest told them to wait as he went into a back room and changed into a clean cassock.

The four teens sat in the front pew, and while Daisya and Lenalee occupied themselves by admiring the priest's painting, Kanda and Lavi sat in a slightly awkward silence.

"_Yeah well, that's because you're the one who said it. Don't you get it yet?"_

Lavi really wanted to ask Kanda what he had meant the other day when he'd said that, but he was unsure of whether or not Kanda would actually answer him. Besides, it seemed like something he should already know the answer to, and Lavi had his suspicions but he didn't dare believe them. But he had to ask, and he had to do it soon! If this exorcism thing didn't work then Lavi would really only have a month to live, and he couldn't waste that time being indecisive.

Quickly, Lavi looked around to see if the shinigami was hanging around, or if anyone was paying attention to him. Thankfully the death god wasn't there and Lenalee and Daisya were still talking about something else. Screwing up him courage for this one question, Lavi finally asked, "Yuu, what did you mean yesterday… when you said that…stuff?" Goodness, he couldn't even get himself to be specific, Lavi was so lame.

Kanda looked surprised by the question, whether it was because he was surprised that Lavi had asked, or he was surprised because Lavi had to ask at all, the redhead wasn't sure. All he knew was that it was becoming increasingly difficult to look Yuu in the face.

Kanda opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted when the priest, Tiedoll-san, walked back into the room. They definitely couldn't talk about their odd relationship in a church, could they? Lavi cursed in his mind; it figured that the priest would be ready just as he had asked that ever-so-important question…!

Lavi had to say though, Tiedoll looked a lot more like a priest now than he had a moment before. Lavi had doubted him at first, but now he seemed a bit more legitimate.

"So tell me about the spirit that has been following you around," Tiedoll said, standing before Lavi. The redhead described how the shinigami looked and what it had said, and Tiedoll just nodded and made the occasional comment about him.

"Well, it seems that this shinigami is affixed to you, bothering you from the outside but not going in… In which case, I know the perfect ritual. Wait here a moment." Once again the old priest went into the back room, and after a moment returned with something that looked like a small fountain. He placed it down in front of the group, and put a small white candle on top of what looked to be the spout of the fountain. Soon enough the old man had filled the lower bowl with water (probably Holy water, Lavi thought with a mental snort).

"This is an exorcism rite unique to this church," Tiedoll explained, "It's fairly simple, I will call the spirit here by lighting the candle. The melted wax will fall into the water, and when the candle has melted completely, the spirit will be gone. The candle is a representation of the spirit, burning it will exorcize the spirit."

'_Burning…'_ Lavi wondered how painful this would be for the shinigami. It sort of felt like Lavi was betraying the shinigami in some way…He was the one who had made the death god look forward to being named, he was the one that had been kind first… But Lavi wasn't going to give up his life over a bit of guilt! He couldn't die yet…

Tiedoll lit the candle with a long match, and Lavi secretly prayed that the shinigami wouldn't come. His prayers were not answered however, for a moment later the kid was floating right next to Tiedoll, blinking curiously at the candle.

"Lavi-san, did you call me here with this weird candle?" He asked, peering at Lavi through his silver bangs. Lavi looked at the priest, who was focused on reciting some prayer or other. He didn't seem to notice the shinigami's presence.

"Ugh…I feel ill, what are you doing here…?" The shinigami certainly looked worse for wear, and Lavi had to blame the candle for it. That meant that the exorcism was actually working, wasn't it? Lavi was unsure of how to feel about that.

Suddenly, the boy made a pained expression, and clutched at the material over his chest. It gave a little groan of pain, and stumbled back.

"What's going on, Lavi…?" He asked through pained gasps. Clearly the shinigami was in pain, and Lavi wasn't sure if he could watch this until the end. The death god swayed on its feet before dropping to its knees. He clutched his head as though he was hearing something particularly grating. "Ah…Lavi, make it stop…!"

Lavi squirmed uncomfortably in his seat. This was too hard to watch, it was too much to hear. He couldn't think beyond that fact that the shinigami was in pain and asking for his help! He was starting to get upset by this in a way that he shouldn't have been. Sure, the kid was a death god, but it wasn't a bad spirit, so why did it have to suffer?

When the shinigami fell to the floor, still looking at him pleadingly, Lavi shot up from his seat. He wanted to live a long life, but there had to be a less painful way to get rid of this shinigami and the death sentence that loomed over Lavi's head!

"Be patient, Lavi-san, the candle is almost out," Tiedoll said, misinterpreting Lavi's movement as one of excitement. For one last moment Lavi hesitated, because he couldn't think of any other way to get rid of his problem but…

He walked forward and kicked the small fountain over. The water sloshed over the sides and onto the wood-paneled floors, the candle went out just before reaching the end of the wick.

"Phew…it's out… It's ok now, you're safe," Lavi said, feeling relieved. He looked over to the shinigami, but found it was still lying on the ground. For a moment, Lavi panicked; maybe he had not acted quickly enough and the shinigami had died…? But shinigami weren't supposed to die, right? Even as he thought that, Lavi couldn't help but think that he had just killed the death god.

'_Oh goodness, I think I did…'_

"Pft…" Wait. That wasn't a sound of death.

"Hehe… hahaha…" Lavi's jaw dropped. The shinigami was laughing. _Laughing_. Hadn't he just been in pain a few seconds before? There was no way that the kid could just recover like that, unless…

The shinigami looked back at Lavi with a devilish grin on his face. "Fail," it said, before laughing more.

'_That bastard.'_

"Sorry, but you can't get rid of me," the shinigami said once it came back to its senses. "There is no human being on earth that has power over a death god. Exorcisms work on spirits, but I'm not a ghost. Let's not try any mean tricks like that again, okay Lavi-san?" The shinigami wagged a scolding finger at Lavi, who pouted and shrank back to sulk.

"Still…I guess it's… sort of nice to know that you were worried about hurting me…" Suddenly the shinigami wasn't teasing him, it looked nearly flustered when it said that. The kid was even blushing a bit, and Lavi still found it weird that a shinigami could do that. Darn, that death god was too adorable for his own good… too cute for Lavi's good, too.

"Um… Lavi?" Lavi's back straightened and he turned around to look at his three confused friends and one curious priest. Kanda was walking towards him with a cautious expression. "Is something wrong…?"

Lavi was unsure of how to respond to that. He couldn't just say "But the poor dear was in pain, I couldn't let you kill him," and he couldn't just say that the exorcism was a dud. It didn't seem like either comment would be appreciated. As everyone started questioning him about what he'd just done, who he'd been talking to and the like, Lavi cursed the shinigami to hell for tricking him.

000

"I'm so sorry… I know you guys went through a lot to set that up for me and that you're all worried and everything… But, well…He looked like he was really dying, painfully at that, and I couldn't watch that…Of course, the kid turned out to be acting through the whole thing. I wasn't really expecting that, the kid seems so sweet and innocent; you wouldn't think he'd pull something like that…"

Lavi sighed when Kanda didn't answer him. Because they lived near each other they were walking home together, but Kanda wouldn't answer him. Lavi could understand why, after all to Kanda it must've looked like Lavi had saved the shinigami from being exorcized. Well he had, but it wasn't really saving because the kid had never been in any danger in the first place.

"I guess I just thought he was a nicer guy than that, or somethin'…" Lavi mumbled, scuffing his feet on the ground. Kanda turned to glare at him incredulously, and Lavi stopped in his tracks. It was rare to see Kanda glare at him with such venom.

"Sweet? Innocent? A _nice guy_? What the hell Lavi, why are you getting all buddy-buddy with a death god that's after your head? You get us all worried one day because you're so upset by this guy, and then the next day you're talking like that thing is your long-time friend!" Kanda sounded so indignant; Lavi couldn't do much but let him rant on. "He's a shinigami, not a nice guy!"

"I…I know it seems stupid…but he likes dogs, actually cried when one died. Yeah, I was afraid at first, but then I talked to him and he was more cute than scary…It was just too hard to hate 'im." Kanda gaped incredulously at him, and Lavi wondered what he said that was so crazy.

"Che, you think it's _cute?_ I should've figured something was up when you gave the priest that unnecessarily detailed description of it…You've been checking out the shinigami!"

"What?" Lavi was genuinely confused there. Yuu thought he was looking at the shinigami in _that _way…? And if his reaction was anything to go by, he was jealous too, wasn't he? But that wasn't the point, the point was that Kanda was stupid enough to think that Lavi would really look at anyone but him!

"Maybe you've fallen for the shinigami…" Kanda said in a way that was almost, _almost_ upset. He turned from Lavi and started walking forward again, and Lavi ran to his side to stop him.

"Wait, ya can't seriously think that Yuu!"

"I could tell that you didn't really want to go through with the exorcism, even from the beginning. You like the thing Lavi."

"I do not!" Kanda gave Lavi an annoyed glare, as though he was pissed that Lavi would dare to lie to him about something like that. Clearly, he didn't believe Lavi, he actually doubted Lavi!

"Don't be such an ass Yuu-chan! Clearly the only person I love is Yuu!" Lavi declared much more loudly than he'd meant to. For a moment, there was silence as Kanda stared at Lavi with wide eyes, a rosy blush creeping across his cheeks. Lavi had always wondered what sort of expression Kanda would make when he finally worked up the nerve to tell him that, but he'd never imagined Yuu would look so… well, beautiful.

"Uh, I …Ah… God, I'm an idiot…!" Lavi looked around for something to hit his head on when his embarrassment got to be too much for him. He wasn't supposed to confess like that, and besides he wasn't good enough for Yuu yet! Why couldn't he just crawl into a hole and die already? He beckoned to the shinigami, wherever it as, to kill him now.

"Lavi," Kanda said when it seemed that Lavi wasn't going to calm down any time soon. Lavi was too busy trying do decide between fleeing and just killing himself then and there to even think that it would be possible for Kanda to not reject him.

"_Lavi,_" Kanda called again with a bit more force in his voice, and took the redhead by the shoulders. Lavi jumped at the contact and immediately started to apologize for just springing that on his friend.

"I am so sorry I just said that. It must've been real awkward to hear, just pretend ya didn't hear tha-" Lavi was cut off when a pair of soft lips- lips he'd never really thought he'd get a chance to taste for himself.

Holy hell, Kanda Yuu was kissing him.

'_Well, I'd better kiss back before he gets the wrong idea,'_ Lavi thought happily, and took control of the kiss. Kanda was sweet, softer than Lavi had imagined, but somehow it suited him perfectly. This was most definitely the happiest moment in his young life, and he wouldn't have minded at all if he was struck down now.

Lavi was still thankful that he wasn't actually struck down though. When the two pulled apart, Lavi smiled sheepishly at Yuu, who blushed and averted his eyes. Neither of them could really think of anything to say after that, so instead Lavi just took Kanda's hand and led him home, face flushed all the while.

Neither of them noticed the scowling shinigami that hid behind the trees.

**Dang it…Those two can be so cute sometimes…! Granted, their OOC but eh…cute is cute :T Allen gets a name in the next chapter, by the way. And Saya will do her best to deviate from the original storyline to get more Lavlen here. Shinigami need lovin' too D: They get jealous when you don't love them! Anyway…hope ya liked the chapter? :3**


	3. Momentarily Sanguine

**Ah….here's where the drama begins! Our dearly beloved shinigami!Allen is clearly jealous, but how will he deal with it? LET'S GOGOGO~ NEXT CHAPTER!**

**Disclaimer: the story idea belongs to Mimori Ao, the characters to Katsura Hoshino. Saya just owns the idea of putting the two together. **

**Rating: T-ish in this chapter. Rating might go up, but Saya isn't so sure. **

**3. Momentarily Sanguine**

Lavi was on cloud nine. He'd just gotten his first kiss from his beloved Yuu-chan and had walked home hand-in-hand with him, to boot! And yes, surprisingly enough it was Lavi's first kiss, he'd been saving it for this very occasion. There was no way he could've been happier, this was definitely the best day of his life.

He was hesitant to leave Kanda's side when they reached his apartment, and made sure to get one more kiss before Yuu left.

"You're going to see me tomorrow, too, idiot…" Yuu had mumbled in embarrassment when it became evident that Lavi didn't want him to leave just yet.

"I know…" Lavi's hand lingered in Yuu's just a little longer than it should've, but he did eventually slip out of Kanda's grip. Lavi had no intentions of being annoying and clingy, at least he didn't want to get any more annoying and clingy than he already was. It was time to say goodbye, so he'd just have to leave.

When Kanda finally left and Lavi finally stopped watching him leave, he turned into his apartment and closed the door with a bittersweet sigh. He turned into his kitchen; the day had been so exciting that it had made him hungry. It was ramen for dinner for sure this time.

"Eat enough of that, and I won't have to do a thing."

Lavi's shoulders jumped up to his ears and he nearly spilt his water. Slowly he turned around to face the shinigami, it was probably angry about the whole exorcism thing. It wasn't Lavi's fault that they had planned that, but it wasn't like the death god could torture anyone else for it, aside from killing them. Lavi didn't really want his friends to die.

"Ah… Lovely day today, isn't it?"

"Really though, you do know that you're basically eating saltwater, right?"

"Okay, I get it, ramen is bad for me. Not like my eating habits mean much now." Lavi sat at the kitchen table with a sigh, slurping up ramen even before he was seated. No matter what, it still tasted good, deadliness and all. The shinigami sat across the table from Lavi, which he found strange because that was where Yuu usually sat and it was odd to see someone else in his spot.

"Ever think it was your eating habits that brought me here?" the shinigami muttered with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Touché. Anyway, you don't even know how much trouble you caused me with that fake dying stuff today. My friends spent an hour questioning my sanity before I managed to escape!" Lavi said indignantly between mouthfuls of noodles. The shinigami had the grace to look abashed by this.

"Well gee, you were trying to get rid of me. I think I had a right to a bit of pay back. You didn't even name me first… You said you would." The shinigami averted his eyes, drawing meaningless little symbols on the tabletop, even though he couldn't actually touch it. Lavi could tell that it embarrassed the shinigami to bring that up, and it was just so cute…

'_But no…The shinigami isn't the good guy here…'_

"It doesn't matter, though. I was happy at the time, at least," the shinigami said, with a smile that was just too genuine to be ignored. He was so innocent, getting happy over just the hope that he would get a name. There was no way this kid was really bad.

"Hey, hey, don't go making me seem too heartless now," Lavi said, trying not to let the guilt get to him too badly, "I might've been worried about the whole exorcism thing all day, but I still had time to think up a name for you." Lavi had indeed done his utmost to keep his mind off of the exorcism, and he had used finding a name for the shinigami as a distraction. After much deliberation, he had decided on a name that was short, simple, foreign, and fitting for the shinigami.

The boy's face lit up immediately, it was as though he hadn't really expected Lavi to name him.

"Did you really?" He asked eyes wide with childish excitement. Oh, he was so precious, Lavi couldn't help but grin.

"Of course I did! I told you I would, didn't I?" Lavi chuckled at the look of anticipation on the boy's face; it was like looking at an excited puppy just before adopting it.

"It is…! Drum roll please! Okay, just kidding, that's way too dramatic."

"Lavi-san you're killing me…"

"That's ironic. Anyway! I hope you're not too disappointed with it because I thought long and hard on this, but I decided on the name… Allen."

"Allen?"

"Yup."

For a moment it looked as if the shinigami, now properly named Allen, was going to explode with happiness, but then he mysteriously disappeared. Lavi tilted his head to the side in confusion; what just happened? Did naming the shinigami make him go away? That was hardly fair to the poor boy.

"Uh…You still 'ere Allen? If ya hate the name just say so and I'll think of a new one."

"No, I don't hate it!" The disembodied voice of Allen sounded from somewhere around Lavi's head. The redhead jumped because even though he knew who was speaking it was still strange to hear a faceless voice in his house.

"Uh…Then what happened to you?"

"I…I just wanted to be invisible for a moment," Allen said. He sounded embarrassed, very, very embarrassed, and Lavi realized that the shinigami was hiding his blushing face.

"Oh, that's not fair Allen, I should at least get to see how happy the name made you!" Lavi huffed out indignantly. He couldn't imagine how cute Allen must be at the moment, and he had been sort of looking forward to seeing the kid's reaction to the name. This invisibility thing must've been cheating or something.

"Bu-but…. Fine…!" Lavi looked around the kitchen excitedly, hoping to find the shinigami, but he still saw nothing. Maybe this kid was too flustered to change turn back at the moment? Oh, that'd be rich…

"Still can't see ya."

"…Under here…" Lavi let out a warm laugh when he heard Allen's voice come from under the table. Sliding out of his chair, the redhead joined the death god on the floor. It was dark under the table, but Lavi could still see that Allen was red up to his ears, covering his smile with his hands. Lavi sighed and shook his head, and crawled forward a little.

"No hiding, Allen," he said, and gently took the shinigami's hands away from his face. Shyly the white haired boy looked up to Lavi, his face still bright red as he bit at his lip. A little something in Lavi went "Strike!" when he saw the boy's cute expression. His grip on Allen went slack and the boy used that chance to bring his hands back to his face.

"I knew I should've just stayed invisible…" he mumbled, and turned his face away from Lavi.

"I'm glad ya didn't."

000

"Hey Allen, I've got a question," Lavi said, as he turned on his side. He'd gotten tired of staring at his ceiling; it wasn't helping him get to sleep any faster. That might've had something to do with Allen though.

"Yeah?"

"Why the heck are you in my bed?"

Allen shrugged beside Lavi, not seeming to find a problem in his being there. Lavi didn't either really, it was sort of like sleeping next to a sibling or a friend, but he was still curious.

"I want to try sleeping," Allen said, "I've been trying but I just can't seem to do it…"

"_I'm not human, so I don't get hungry or tired or anything." _

"It's probably impossible for me…"

"If ya can't sleep, try counting sheep."

"That sounds dumb, were you just trying to rhyme?"

"Hey! Counting sheep is a tradition for insomniacs that spans thousands of years!" Lavi defended, his pout took a bit of the edge off his indignity though. "Ya get really bored after a while and it puts you to sleep."

"If you say so," Allen said with a sigh. There was an odd silence as Allen started counting sheep in his head. After a while the awkwardness faded away, and Lavi looked over to the boy, wonder if maybe he'd fallen asleep.

'_I think he did, huh,'_ Lavi thought as he watched the steady rise and fall of Allen's chest. Everything about the kid was so white, even his hair and eyes were pale shades of silver. "Hehe, maybe I shouda called you Shiro," Lavi thought aloud, chuckling a bit. He wondered what Allen would've thought about being named "White."

'_White…Snow white? I don't think that would've been appreciated. 'Sides, the kid can't eat apples anyway, poisonous or otherwise.'_

Lavi rolled his eyes at his own stupid thoughts and got to counting sheep himself.

000

"Lavi, wake up, you've got to get to school," Allen attempted to shake the redhead awake when he slept through his alarm. He hadn't actually gotten to sleep the night before, he was pretty sure it was impossible for him, so he was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed on this fine school morning. At least being awake alone wasn't too boring. Lavi talked in his sleep and he was especially bad last night. Allen imagined he must've had a very nice dream.

"Naw… few more minutes…" Lavi droned out tiredly, swatting away Allen's hands half-heartedly. He turned over and sprawled out on his bed, his foot hanging over the edge.

"So you're planning to worry all of your friends again by being late?" Allen muttered to himself, shaking his head at Lavi's childish actions. "Wake up, wouldn't want to worry your precious _Yuu-chan_." Allen rolled his eyes at the way Lavi bolted right out of bed when he said that. The fact that that had worked was very annoying and Allen could already feel that he was going to have an unpleasant day.

But not everyone was in such low spirits that morning, as Lavi was practically bouncing around the house with joy. He was going to see his Yuu today! Not like he didn't see him everyday, but it was different now because Kanda was his, all his! Well at least Lavi was pretty sure that Kanda was his, they hadn't actually talked about the nature of their relationship yet. Hm, they'd have to do that today.

Allen didn't follow him to school that day, apparently he had shinigami duties to attend to elsewhere. He'd seemed to be a bit of a bad mood that morning; strange, Lavi had figured he'd still be happy like he had been the day before.

The redhead made it to school in record time that morning. He actually made it there early enough to catch Kanda coming back to his locker after morning kendo practice. Lavi didn't know why, but suddenly he felt more nervous now than he ever had, it felt like every step Kanda took toward him was too fast.

"Hey Yuu," he greeted when the older boy stopped by his locker. Kanda glanced over his shoulder at him and continued to shove his club stuff into his locker. Well that was a cold reaction; it was hardly fair of Yuu to just brush him off like that after what had happened yesterday. Lavi didn't really get what he'd done wrong already.

"So somethin' happen at practice today that pissed you off?" Lavi asked for he was not one to be discouraged easily. He'd spent years pursuing this boy, he could be patient another day. Kanda just shrugged in response, finished up with his locker, and left.

Lavi's eye twitched angrily; on second thought, maybe he couldn't wait another day. He'd gotten a taste of what he wanted and now he couldn't live without it.

000

The entire day was a game of cat and mouse that Lavi didn't understand at all. Every time he looked in Kanda's direction the older boy would look away, and anytime he tried to talk to him he got the cold shoulder.

Lavi couldn't help but think he'd made a mistake. Maybe yesterday was just a dream, and he was just imagining things? Maybe he was a crappy kisser and Kanda thought he could do better? Maybe Kanda had simply been swept away yesterday and was regretting it now?

'_He probably just came to his senses,'_ Lavi thought with a sigh, _'I mean I'm practically a dead man walking right now, why would he bother with me?'_

Still, even though the outlook seemed bleak Lavi couldn't help but want to know the real reason for why Kanda was suddenly avoiding him. But how could he ask the boy about it if Kanda wouldn't speak to him? Lavi let out another longsuffering sigh and dropped his head on his desk when the lunch bell rang.

"Hey Lavi, wanna come to lunch with…us…?" Daisya grimaced when he saw Lavi's despairing expression.

"Um…Lavi, are you alright?" Lenalee asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. Unexpectedly Lavi stood up from his seat.

"Sorry guys, I've got a mission to complete," Lavi said with an expression much too serious for the situation. Lenalee gave him a curious expression, while Daisya, very drawn in by Lavi's enthusiasm, cheered and pushed Lavi toward the classroom door.

Lavi set out for the roof; students weren't really supposed to go there but a few did. Kanda always ate there; he hated eating in the noisy, crowded classroom. It was easy enough to find the raven haired boy, he sat in the same spot everyday and more than half of the time Lavi would join him up there.

Lavi's shadow alerted Kanda to the fact that he was there before he had a chance to say anything. At first the older boy just glared up at him uncaringly, but when he saw just who it was towering over him, he jumped a little. That was a strange thing for Kanda to do; he never showed it when he was surprised.

"Hey Yuu, I've just got one question to ask, and then ya can go back to avoiding me like the plague," Lavi said, his grin tense and clearly forced. Kanda looked away like a child who knew he was going to be scolded.

"Why the heck are you avoiding me? I mean, if my breath smelled bad yesterday you shoulda just said something." Kanda looked at him incredulously for a moment, shook his head, and then dropped it into his hands with a sigh.

"Okay, so a joke wasn't the way to bring the subject up I take it?" Lavi said with a sigh.

"Not at all," Kanda agreed. Lavi pouted petulantly; Kanda was the problem here, he hardly had any right to comment on Lavi's way of doing things at the moment.

"But really Yuu, why the heck have you been avoiding me? I mean, maybe you forgot but you're the one who kissed me yesterday. If you were gonna avoid me today, why bother? It's more than a little cruel to mess with me that way."

There was a moment of tense silence as Lavi waited for an answer. Kanda didn't lift his face from his hands, though after a moment he did mumble something.

"What was that, Yuu?"

"I said…I…I was… embarrassed, okay? I'm not like you, I'm not used to relationships in general, and I don't know how to be nice or show…affection or whatever it is I'm supposed to do. I'm just…very, very…awkward, right now."

Kanda hadn't bothered to look up to Lavi at all during his explanation, but Lavi could see how red the tips of his ears were, and couldn't help but think it was the cutest darn thing ever. Keeping in his unmanly squeal, Lavi wrapped his arms around Kanda's hunched form.

"Dun worry Yuu, I wouldn't want you to be anything other than what you are, awkwardness an' all."

"Shut up." Kanda squirmed, looking ready to bolt for the stairs. He almost did too, but Lavi held him back.

"Wait Yuu! I got one more question before you head for your hidey-hole or whatever!" Lavi said, holding Kanda back by his middle.

"What?"

"Ah…What the heck are we now, anyway?" Lavi asked, that question had been bugging him just as much as Yuu's avoidance had.

"Clearly we're going out now you idiot, I don't kiss people at random!" Kanda said without thinking. When he realized just what he said, he struggled to run away harder. However, that answer just made Lavi burst with joy and he couldn't help but hug Yuu tighter.

"Lemme go, you said I could run away now!"

"But Yuu that made me happy! Really, really happy!"

"Baka usagi!"

000

Allen knew today was going to be bad. He'd decided to not make it obvious that he was following Lavi that day. Really, he had nothing better to do that follow his assignment around, but he didn't want the redhead to feel like he was breathing down his neck or anything. Naturally Allen disregarded the fact that following Lavi when the redhead didn't know he was technically made him a stalker. Really, if he had something better to do he would.

He'd been boredly staring at clouds on the school roof when he heard Lavi come on to the roof. He wasn't actually paying much attention to the redhead today, he was simply too lost in thought. All through the day he'd seen that stupid ponytail blow Lavi off time after time, and while a part of him was annoyed the Kanda was upsetting Lavi, another more petty side of himself that he hadn't known existed was happy to see that the redhead wasn't hanging around the pretty boy today.

Allen was curious about these strange feelings. He wasn't accustomed to feeling anything more than boredom usually, when one had an eternity to live alone that was all they really could feel, boredom and loneliness. Why on earth had he felt such strange, conflicting feeling over Lavi's plight? He shouldn't really care at all; this should just be another assignment to him. What was wrong with him now? Maybe he was sick, but did shinigami get sick? Curious.

So he thought it would be a pretty interesting distraction when Lavi came onto the roof, determined to confront Kanda. The more he watched though, the more something twisted in his chest. Allen didn't understand it, he'd never really felt a pain like that, like something inside him was being crushed. Allen couldn't think of any injury he'd ever gotten that could make him feel like that.

It was with cold, despairing eyes that he watched the two lovers talk on the roof.

000

"He's glowing, he's fricking _glowing_."

"I'm happy for him but at the same time to go on like this for days is just so obnoxious…"

"I'm seeing flowers Lenalee, I think I need to leave the room. I might just hurl."

Not a thing Daisya nor Lenalee said penetrated Lavi's happy place. Staring off into oblivion had never been more fun, really. Kanda had said they were going out, the world was perfect and he could die happy now.

While Lavi swam around in joy, poor Kanda who sat just a few desks away was burning in embarrassment. He really wished those two would stop making such a big deal out of Lavi's behavior, the least they could do is be quieter! He kept his head on his desk resting on his arms, hoping that his ears would stop burning. Needless to say, he hadn't been able to pick his head up off his desk for days.

The minute the bell rang Kanda was out of his seat and heading for the door. Lavi, like the love-struck rabbit he was, was quick to get up and follow. Exams were coming up soon so Kanda had no afternoon practice, which meant they could walk home together. They did this all the time sure, but it was different now.

'_I think I'm in Heaven..!'_ Lavi thought happily as the two walked down the sidewalk together. Kanda was no longer completely red (a bit of a shame, in Lavi's opinion), though his cheeks were still a bit pink. This whole scene sort of felt like something out of a shojo manga, they were only missing one thing…

Lavi stared at Kanda's hand and wondered if it would be okay to take it. They'd walked home that way just a few days ago, but things were different now. Besides, Yuu had probably had enough for the day; he looked ready to make a run for it. Lavi had to admit that was sort of cute in and of itself though. It was so unusual for Kanda to run away from anything, and to see him running from love was priceless.

"Oh just take it already, I can tell you want to," Kanda said with a roll of his eyes. For a moment Lavi was a bit confused as to what Yuu meant, but he understood better when the older boy sighed and took his hand. Heavenly was simply too small of a word to describe the emotions that burst in Lavi.

000

"You seem to be doing better lately," Kanda commented the next morning as he and Lavi walked to school.

"Better? I'm feeling the best I ever have!" Lavi replied, not quite on the same page as Yuu.

"No, I mean you haven't been talking about that shinigami at all lately."

"Oh! Right…Well that's just 'cause…" Lavi was a bit embarrassed to say it but the truth was that he'd been so focused on Kanda these past few days that nothing else had mattered. Awake or asleep, it made no difference because he just had Yuu on the brain.

"I've just been a bit distracted," Lavi settled for, and Kanda scoffed. "Besides, he hasn't been around much lately. Hm, wonder what happened to the kid…"

"_Baka_, don't think about it! It should be good thing that the shinigami is gone, a _good thing_. I forbid you to think about it any more."

"But what if-"

"-No thinking about it. Look at this objectively, Lavi. You've been stressed over exams coming up and then you start seeing this thing so you start worrying about it constantly. Then the minute you stop thinking about it, it's not there anymore. You were thinking too much about it, and that's why you saw it." What Kanda said made enough sense logically-speaking, but Lavi was pretty sure shinigami resided outside of the realm of logic. Then again, when Lavi thought about it, the whole story was really far-fetched, and it would make sense if he was just hallucinating out of stress.

"But if he is real then I'm dead Yuu."

"No, you're not. If it is real then I'll help you think of a solution," Yuu said, his confident little smirk was very reassuring. Lavi felt himself melting just a bit on this inside; sometimes Yuu was just too cool.

"You're right Yuu, there's nothing to worry about," Lavi said happily, and turned forward to continue walking. Kanda was rather thankful that the redhead seemed to believe everything he said.

000

Lavi didn't think about the shinigami at all for the rest of the day, and he didn't spot the kid even once that entire day.

'_Now that I think about it, the entire thing was crazy anyway. I was probably just really stressed over the upcoming exams or something,' _he thought as he entered his apartment. He was going to try making curry that night instead of his usual ramen.

"Well you seem rather chipper today."

"Gah!" Lavi jumped back and hit the door, completely taken aback by the voice in his apartment. Sitting at his kitchen table was none other than Allen, whom he thought had gone. Okay, so not thinking about him didn't work.

'_Well he's clearly not an illusion… Dang that theory was killed fast._'

"So…how ya been these days?" Lavi asked a little shakily once he got his heart to stop hammering its way out of his ribcage.

"Fine."

"Anything I can get for you…?"

"Nothing."

Lavi pouted, his eyebrows drawing together. What was Allen's problem today? He looked sort of upset about something but Lavi hadn't a clue as to what was bothering him. This silence was getting awkward, there had to be something to say…

"Ah, you haven't been around these past few days so maybe ya don't know but Yuu and I finally started going out! Sure it took me 18 years to work up the nerve to ask him out but at least I did, right?"

"23 days."

"Eh?"

"You've got 23 days left to live. I guess you should make the most of them and get intimate with him. You've known each other for a while so it probably wouldn't be too awkward."

Lavi was struck speechless for a moment as he processed this information. Well, he supposed he knew somewhere in the back of his mind that he was losing time here, but he hadn't really been keeping track. And of course the "get intimate" comment was just completely embarrassing and uncalled for.

"Hey, people with faces like yours shouldn't say things like that!" Lavi scolded, pinching one of Allen's cheeks and pulling it. "Besides, when someone tells you something like that you say "Congratulations" or something! You're the one who told me to go for it in the first place anyway!"

"Really? I don't recall."

'_What is up with this kid?' _Lavi sighed and shook his head; there was no point in getting angry. Allen was probably just being cynical. When Lavi thought about it, he realized he should probably be pretty annoyed too; after all he only had a month to be with Yuu. But then again, a months' worth of perfect happiness was really something, what more could anyone ask for?

"Uh…Sorry, Lavi….I'm just really annoyed today," Allen said, looking down at the table. Well he sure looked remorseful enough. Lavi sat down across from him, wearing a concerned expression.

"I see. So what's eatin' at ya kid? Anything I can help with?"

"I….I don't know," Allen said, looking perturbed, "I just haven't been able to keep my head straight these past few days. I get annoyed so easily and I hurt and I don't know why…" Allen dropped his head to the table with a groan.

'_Wow, his melancholy levels are over 9,000…'_ Lavi thought with a sympathetic sigh.

"There's gotta be a reason for all of it though! What happened just before you started getting upset?" Lavi asked trying to think back and see if he could remember anything from the past week or so that could possibly upset the shinigami.

"Ah…Well the only thing I can think of is-" Allen was cut off by a knock at the door.

"Oi usagi, either stop locking the door when you know I'm coming over or give me a damn key already," Kanda said through the door. Allen twitched angrily a few times before picking up a seat cushion and chucking it at the door.

"Hey I thought you couldn't touch most things from this plane of living!"

"You should've known that was a lie when I started sitting at your kitchen table!"

"Ah, whatever… No throwing stuff in the house though. What was that about anyway?"

"I'm really pissed off!"

"That's my line!"

"Should I come back later Lavi…?" Kanda asked through the door, and Lavi realized he probably sounded very crazy to Yuu at the moment.

"Ah…Just hold on a minute Yuu," Lavi called back, he had to calm Allen down before he let anyone into his apartment. When he looked back to Allen though, it seemed that the child was already subdued. He was looking down to his feet with an upset expression on his face.

"Sorry, I should go now…" he mumbled, and headed for the window. Lavi wasn't sure if he wanted to tell the god to stay or just say good riddance. The wetness he saw around the other's eyes made him reach out and try to hold Allen back, but it was already too late, as soon the boy was flying out of the window. Lavi too went to the window, and made a resigned expression when Allen flew out of sight.

"Awe man, don't go off when you look like you're gonna cry…" he muttered, then pulled himself away from he window and answered the door.

000

'_I can't help but think about it, maybe I did something wrong?'_ Lavi sighed as he made his way down the street.

"You've been really out of it since yesterday, is everything okay with you?" Kanda asked, looking at the redhead curiously. Lavi jumped at the sound and immediately shook his head no. He wasn't supposed to think about the shinigami anymore, so he needed to stop right now!

"I'm just starting to worry about our upcoming exams…With all the craziness lately I've been slacking, ya know?" Lavi said, hoping that the lie would be good enough to fool Kanda for a while. It seemed to work, as Kanda just rolled his eyes and pat Lavi on the head once.

"Good," he said, with a little quirk of the lips that hinted at a smile. Lavi was nearly brought to tears by Yuu's faith in him.

'_I love you my love!'_

Lavi really couldn't bother himself with thinking about Allen anymore; whatever was eating at the shinigami couldn't really be his fault. Allen would probably come back in a few days, acting as though nothing had ever been wrong. Whatever shinigami business had been troubling him would be dealt with and things could go back to…normal?

What Lavi should really be thinking about at the moment were his dating plans. It was going to take a lot of thinking to find a place that Kanda would want to go to on a date; he was hard to please most of the time. Lavi would be happy to go anywhere though, as long as Yuu was enjoying himself there.

"Anyway Yuu, here's the notes you left at my place yesterday," Lavi said as he dug threw his bag for the aforementioned notes. Kanda waited patiently for them, not seeming to mind at all. Lavi fished out the notes just in time to see something fall right past Kanda's head and crash onto the ground. Kanda's back went stiff when he heard the crash, before he looked back to find the flower pot that had crashed less than a foot away from him.

"That's dangerous," Kanda said simply, not sounding particularly frightened. Lavi was panicking enough for the both of them though.

"Holy hell, are you okay? That thing coulda killed you!" he said, looking up to see what window that had just fallen from. For just a moment, he saw a person in all white at a window on the top floor of the school, but then they disappeared.

'_That was Allen, wasn't it?'_A chill went up Lavi's spine at the thought. Was Allen trying to kill him already? Hadn't he said just the day before that Lavi still had 23 days left? Maybe Lavi really was the reason why the kid was so angry, and he'd decided to get rid of Lavi now instead of later? That was a troubling thought.

Feeling very shaken, Lavi grabbed onto Yuu's coat and let the older boy lead him inside.

000

"Lenalee, Daisya… If I die in an accident, please feed my cat and eat all the food in my apartment before it goes bad…"

"You don't have a cat," his friends said together. Neither of them knew what was going on now, to them Lavi just seemed to be acting really dramatic.

"Look Lavi," Lenalee said, hoping that a few calm words would sooth her friend, "You're not gonna die any time soon. That pot probably fell on accident, and the person at the window probably just happened to be wearing white. Maybe it was just someone with bleached hair and a general dislike of color."

"If only I could still bring myself to believe in such simple coincidences… It was the shinigami, I know it…He's after me 'cause I pissed him off…"

"What'd you do to make him suddenly shorten your lifespan?" Daisya asked, "Ya didn't make any deals with 'im didja? We all know what happens when you deal with death…"

"This is not a death god from a manga! He doesn't eat at all, especially not apples."

"So we were lied to?"

"We were lied to. Now lets be serious, please, I'm trying to evenly divide my worldly assets here." At this both of his friends hit him over the head.

"You're not dying!" They said in unison. Lavi groaned and dropped his head onto his desk. He stared wistfully at Kanda, who was just sleeping through their free period like he always did. His calmness was so reassuring, but Lavi still felt it was a bit careless of him to just brush off something like that. If Yuu hung around Lavi while "accidents" like that were happening, who was to say that he wouldn't get caught up in one of them and hurt? Or worse, killed?

Lavi bolted up when he saw Allen come in through the classroom window, his face blank. For a moment, it seemed like he was going to float on over to Lavi, but instead he stopped by Yuu. He didn't do anything except glare at the back of Kanda's head and make him cold. Lavi didn't really understand what was going on; why was Allen floating around Yuu?

"He's the problem," Allen muttered, as though he'd forgotten there was someone in the room who could hear him. Lavi's eye widened when he heard this. Kanda was the problem? But how could he be bothering the shinigami when he couldn't even see Allen? He thought hard on what had been happening these past few days. Everything had been going so well until Allen had disappeared for a few days, and then when he came back he was angry at something. He disappeared the day after Lavi named him, the day when Lavi and Yuu had gotten together. And then he came back and got upset when Kanda came to Lavi's apartment. Just that morning, that pot had fallen so close to Yuu, too…

'_Oh hell, he's targeting Yuu on his own!' _

Allen's feet hit the floor without a sound as he came to stand directly behind Kanda. Slowly his hands extended forward in an almost mechanical way, as though he'd done this a million times before and it was just a process he went through. Lavi wasn't sure where those hands were headed, but he was afraid.

"Yuu, wake up!" Lavi called, sufficiently starling Yuu enough to make him jolt into wakefulness. Lavi was suddenly very wary of the fact that Allen was indeed a shinigami. What would he do now that he realized who the cause of his "problem" was?

"You know free period is 'Leave Kanda Alone' time, right?" Yuu said groggily, glaring half-heartedly over his arm.

"A-ah… Sorry. Just come with me for a minute, please?" Lavi asked, but he didn't really give Kanda a choice and instead grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the room.

"He-hey, what the heck is going on here?" Yuu asked when Lavi stopped right outside the door to the roof.

"I'm sorry, I know ya told me not to think about him but I tried and it didn't work. Allen is _real_ Yuu, and-"

"-Allen?"

"The shinigami's name is Allen. But that's not what's important here!" Lavi sighed impatiently. It was one thing when the shinigami was after him, but if it was after Yuu then there was a problem. "This morning when that potted plant fell, I just figured that he was after me, 'cause I'm the one who's supposed to die. But he was in out class just a minute ago; staring at you and saying you were the problem… He's going after you of his own free will."

Kanda's brow furrowed and he looked to the ground with a serious expression. "I'm the problem? What does he mean by that…?" he asked, looking curiously at Lavi.

"I don't know. He was really happy one day, and then he disappeared. When he came back he was in a bad mood. I don't know why but I guess he decided you were the reason he was so pissed…"

"Wait, when did he disappear?" Kanda was clearly thinking of something that Lavi wasn't.

"Ah…. The morning after the exorcism-thing. He woke me up when I slept through my alarm, but I didn't see him again after that until yesterday…"

"So that's who you were yelling at yesterday when I came over? And he hates me…hm." Kanda had one strange thought in his mind but he couldn't imagine it to be right. "Why were you two yelling?"

"Well, I was telling him about what had happened over the past few days, but he was annoyed so I asked what was wrong…and then you came and Allen started throwin' stuff at the door."

"Ah… I think I get it now." Kanda could hardly believe it, the more he heard about the situation, the more it seemed like he was right. Was this thing jealous of his relationship with Lavi? But then it wouldn't have been happy on the day of the exorcism, it was probably following them home.

"Why was he in a good mood before?"

"I…ah…ehe… Sorta named him. It's hard to talk to someone who doesn't have a name."

"You…._named _him? What is he, your new _pet_?"

"I love you don't kill me?"

Kanda looked like he was ready to hit Lavi for a moment, but then sighed out his agitation. "Whatever. So the thing is after me, that just gives me more of a reason to help you get rid of him," he said after he calmed down a bit.

"So understanding…" Lavi was rather thankful that he wasn't getting chewed out by Kanda for the whole naming thing; Yuu had been annoyed with his getting to know Allen since the beginning.

"Just don't get any closer to that shinigami!" The raven haired scolded, and Lavi hung his head and sighed.

"Right, right, sorry. I guess you can go back to class now… I'll meet you down there in a minute, okay?" Yuu gave Lavi a curious look, but turned his back to the redhead a minute later and walked away. Lavi waited until he was out of sight before going onto the roof.

"You're out here, aren't you Allen? Come on out and tell me what this is all about!"

**Ah…That's what happens when you get too close to shinigami… Oh well, now the not-so-fluffy fun comes in! Hopefully you all enjoy it?**


	4. Out of Our Hands

**Ah, jealousy blooms so swiftly in the hearts of the eternal! Or sommat. Like Saya would know. Oh, Lavi does have himself quite the problem now. He loves Yuu, but he's got a jealous shinigami after him who wants more than his soul. And of course, he doesn't really not-like Allen anyway, you know? How difficult…**

**4. Out of Our Hands**

"You're out here, aren't you Allen? Come on out and tell me what this is all about!" Lavi demanded loudly; he knew Allen was close, he could feel it. A moment after he called the snowy boy came out of hiding. His expression was cold and hard, it surprised Lavi because he'd never seen Allen make such a face.

"It's simple, I hate Kanda," Allen said as though that justified everything. But how could it? That was so wrong; did shinigami have some kind of special right to just kill off people they don't like? That just seemed too wrong, there had to be some higher power in the universe with a sense of right and wrong who wouldn't give any one kind of being that sort of right.

When Allen saw the upset expression on Lavi's face, he sat down on the roof and sighed, "I was only kidding. Sort of. That guy does tick me off some though."

That didn't make Lavi feel any better. He felt just a bit too angry to not do anything about it either. Stomping up to Allen, the redhead pulled him up by the front of his shirt and decked him hard across the face. Lavi wasn't normally a violent person and usually he wouldn't even think about hurting Allen, but this was just too much.

"You don't like him so you try to kill him?! That's just going too far! What'd he ever do to you Allen? I really thought you were a good guy you know, but I guess I was just being stupid after all."

"It's because…" Allen's face lost its coldness, but instead it was replaced by a strange unreadable expression, "You only think about him."

'_I only think about him? What does that have to do with anything…?'_

An odd hot and cold chill went through Lavi as Allen suddenly hugged him, his face hidden in the redhead's chest, his hands fisting around the material of Lavi's shirt.

"I don't….I don't want to give you to him!"

Lavi's eyes widened as comprehension dawned on him. Oh goodness…

"I want you for myself."

Death was in love with him.

000

Lavi couldn't look Kanda in the eye the rest of the day. He'd really messed up now; how the hell had he managed to make Allen fall for him? The last half of his meeting with Allen was still so fresh in his mind.

"_It's not just something I hope for; it's something I really want!" Allen said, looking up at him with determination in his summer storm eyes. "I've never wanted anything so much and I don't know why but it really annoys me when I see you with him! I won't give you away."_

_Lavi could do nothing as this information sunk in, he couldn't even blink. He'd made a shinigami fall in love with him. This shinigami wanted him and was really far too jealous for anyone's good. He was going to attack Kanda over Lavi. _

_No, he didn't want that, he never wanted to cause so much strife for Yuu._

"_I definitely want you to be mine alone, I'll do anything for that!" _

Lavi didn't like the sound of that one bit. He was a bit touched by the boy's strong feelings for him, of course, but Lavi definitely didn't want Allen hurting Yuu over him. There had to be a way to protect Kanda from this, just because Lavi was destined to fall didn't mean that he had to drag Yuu down with him.

"Whhhhhyyyyyyy….?" Lavi groaned out, pulling at his hair in frustration. Daisya and Lenalee each gave him mixed looks of pity and confusion.

"Kanda-kun, fix Lavi before it's too late!" Daisya pleaded, worried for his friend. Kanda wasn't quite sure what he could do, it wasn't like he had any idea what was going on here.

'_If he really meant that, then how is he going to keep me with him? I mean, it's not like he can turn me into a death god…'_ For a moment Lavi pictured himself in the head-to-toe white get-up, and immediately decided it definitely wouldn't suit him.

"I don't wanna wear white for eternity…!"

"Lavi." Suddenly his hands were being held in a warm gentle grip. Coming out of his revelry, Lavi looked down to where the voice had come from. Kanda was sitting on his haunches in front of the redhead's desk, looking up at him curiously. A small part of Lavi's mind knew that Kanda wouldn't usually look so sweet and cute on his own, and that someone must've told him that looking up at Lavi would produce that sort of effect.

"Are you alright?"

"I…"

'_I can't drag Yuu into this. I've got to make sure that Allen doesn't really get angry enough to actually kill Yuu. I can't let Yuu know…' _

"I'm just worrying about exams again, I haven't been studying nearly enough, ya know?" Lavi lied quickly, and pulled his hands away from Kanda's. The motion was quick and very obvious; it felt unnatural for Lavi to pull away from Yuu so he had to do it quickly or he'd come undone and tell the truth. Kanda narrowed his eyes at the motion.

"Really now?" Kanda stood up and raised an inquisitive eyebrow. Immediately the effect of the position changed; he'd gone from looking cute and concerned to looming over Lavi in an almost intimidating way. "Seems more like you're just trying to hide something, if you ask me. What happened on the roof when I left?"

Shit, Yuu was quick. He caught on to everything so fast, he knew Lavi was lying and he knew that something had happened on the roof. How was it that Yuu always knew what he was thinking? Well, no matter, Lavi was still determined not to involve Kanda in this any more than he was already.

"Don't worry Yuu-chan, if it were somethin' ya needed to know about, I'd tell ya," Lavi said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone. Standing up, Lavi quickly left the classroom, saying he should get home to study. _'This is no time to get upset over this; you're just doing this for him…'_

"Wow, he's doing better already," Lenalee said, feeling much less worried now that she's seen Lavi leave seemingly happy.

"The power of love….grah, makes me wanna hurl," the much less mature Daisya said, sticking his tongue out as though he still thought love was an illness.

"Che, you two are so oblivious," Kanda said, knowing that something was wrong.

000

Kanda didn't like the answer he'd been given when he'd asked Lavi if he was hiding something. The redhead had basically told him that yes, he was hiding something, but that it was none of Yuu's business. Who'd Lavi think he was to talk to Kanda like that? They were supposed to be together, right? So if something was troubling Lavi then it was definitely Yuu's business.

Besides, Kanda got the feeling that whatever it was, it had to do with the shinigami. If it had to do with the shinigami then it _definitely_ had to do with Kanda. That thing was trying to kill Lavi and now it was trying to kill him, too! Anything that specter did was his business.

If Lavi had talked to that shinigami when he'd left, then he'd probably asked about why it was targeting Kanda. If it answered truthfully, it would probably end up confessing to Lavi. Maybe Kanda was just being overly paranoid about this, but from the sounds of it that shinigami-Allen, or whatever- had a thing for Lavi. Lavi also seemed to find the thing cute to some extent and liked it in what Kanda hoped was a platonic way. Kanda wasn't quite sure if he could compete with a rival he couldn't see and who could kill him whenever it suited the brat's fancy. That had to be cheating.

"Che, that shinigami better not even think about trying anything…"

000

Lavi groaned quietly as he entered his apartment, today was definitely not his day. He still couldn't completely wrap his head around the idea of Allen being in love with him, why the hell would the shinigami care about him? Wasn't Allen supposed to off him? What had Lavi done that was so special, anyway?

'_Well, I did name him, and it seems like I'm the first person who's ever been able to see him… But that doesn't make for that kind of love…Does it?'_

"Welcome home, Lavi." The redhead jumped out of his skins when he heard Allen's voice coming from his kitchen. It took a few moments of heavy breathing to remember that Allen could come and go as he pleased. Lavi was really hoping for some time to himself to continue wallowing in confusion and depression, but getting that didn't seem likely now.

"Ah…hey Allen, gave me a start," Lavi said trying to keep the awkwardness out of his voice. He was a bit afraid that if he did anything wrong Allen would take it out on Kanda. Of course, it was also extremely awkward to come home to the person who had just confessed to him, and toward whom he had uncertain feelings.

"You're home early, I didn't expect that," Allen said, his question carefully casual. He seemed to realize that Lavi was feeling emotionally off-balance.

"Well, sometimes I've gotta buckle down and study, ya know?" The redhead sat at the table and pulled out his history textbook, goodness it weighed a ton. Allen sat across from him in the seat that Yuu usually sat it. To Lavi it almost seemed like an attempt to replace him. He tried hard to concentrate on his studies instead of on that.

"It must be hard working for a scholarship," Allen said as he leaned over the table just slightly, "why didn't you try for a school that was easier to pay for?"

"Ah…" Lavi didn't really know what to say to that. In all honesty he'd just decided to go there because that was where Yuu was going. He couldn't tell Allen that though, who knew what would happen if he did?

"Well, I guess I just wanted the challenge, or something..." Lavi scratched the back of his head nervously and looked to the ceiling. "It was a real stupid idea when I think it over." And logically it had been; between all the part-time jobs he kept in order to pay off bills, studying, and then maintaining himself and his apartment, he had all the stress he could handle and hardly any time to relax. If he'd chosen an easier or cheaper school to go to he wouldn't have to work or study so much. But still, seeing his friends everyday was well worth it.

"Lavi" -the redhead wondered when Allen had dropped the honorific he usually used- "You're acting really tense, you know. I know it's my fault though… I'm sorry for saying those strange things before. I pomise I won't hurt that stupid ponytail jerk, so you can stop being so tense now…" Allen looked down in what seemed to be shame; sure he wanted Lavi for himself, but what good was that if Lavi wasn't himself? He didn't like making Lavi upset.

Lavi really had no idea what was up with this kid. First he was all cool and aloof, then he's crying, then he's being a tricky bastard, then absolutely ecstatic, then murderous, and finally, finally, depressed and remorseful. Well, this shinigami certainly had a full emotional spectrum. It would be much easier to deal with Allen if he would just decide on how he felt and stick with it. Lavi wasn't sure whether he should hate Allen or not. He wanted to be angry at Allen for that stunt he pulled at school, but then again the boy had just apologized and promised not to do it again. He'd have to see if Allen could be trusted to keep his word, but he was pretty sure the boy would.

"Hey Allen, are you allowed to visit people in the afterlife?" Lavi asked suddenly. Allen tilted his head at the question.

"Um, depends. I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to visit people in Heaven but…I'm not too sure about Hell. I don't think I'd want to visit anyone there anyway... Might not be able to get out, you know."

"Aha…" Lavi certainly hoped he didn't end up there. "Well, when I die, assuming I go to the good place, why don't you visit me there? That way you don't have to feel so jealous. I mean, if you've got something to look forward to, then it should be easier to ignore what I do here, right?" He felt embarrassed saying things like that, but in the end he really didn't want Allen to feel too upset, that'd be sad.

Once again the death god's eyes lit up like lights on Christmas. "You mean I can?" Allen asked excitedly, looking so much like a puppy that Lavi couldn't help but pat him on the head.

"'Course you can. We can sit around there and hang out just like we do here," Lavi said, a kind smile on his face. It wouldn't be so bad having this cute lil' guy visiting him in Heaven; it might just make his stay worthwhile.

000

The world seemed like a pretty nice place that day. The weather was mild, the breeze was light, the scenery was nice, and Lavi didn't have to worry about his best friend-gone-boyfriend getting killed any time soon. Yeah, planet Earth wasn't so bad at all.

"Oi, Lavi." The aforementioned redhead turned away from the window he was staring out of wistfully to look at Yuu. The older boy held out the book Lavi had lent him a while back and he took it gratefully; Kanda wasn't really one for reading so it took him forever to sit down and read something.

"Did you like it?" Kanda shrugged and nodded to the side.

"It was alright." Lavi knew that was Kanda's way of saying it was wonderful and that he'd read it more than once.

"Hm….looks better today."

"Huh?" Lavi gave his friend a questioning look. What looked better today?

"You look better today," Kanda explained, "Yesterday you were nearly pulling your hair out over something or other. You're much more relaxed now."

"Ah…" Yuu was so wonderful, noticing things like that! (Granted, Lavi hadn't exactly bothered to hide the fact that he was having a mental fit the day before and he wasn't hiding his content mood now either.) Feeling super loved and not caring that they were in a busy hall, Lavi hugged Yuu tightly around the waist, bringing the older boy very close.

"H-hey! We're in the hall…! People are staring…" Kanda muttered awkwardly, he really wasn't one for public displays of affection. Lavi grinned and touched his forehead to Kanda's.

"Let 'em stare Yuu, I don't want anyone thinking they can have you." He did so love the way that flush crept up Kanda's face.

"B-Baka…" Lavi had half a mind to kiss Kanda then and there, but a shrill whistle made them both jump. Their homeroom teacher stood with her arms folded across her chest, foot tapping away on the linoleum floor, a whistle between her lips and an amused expression on her face. Kanda wasn't the only one who was beat red when he entered the classroom a moment later.

000

Kanda was cold, shivering cold. It was pretty unusual for Kanda to actually show it when he was cold, but he had been for so long now that it was impossible not to shiver at least a bit. Why the hell was Lavi's apartment so cold? This was ridiculous, he had a space heater, didn't he? If he didn't want to turn the heat up for the sake of saving money, he could at least use that…

"Allen, stop picking on Yuu, it's not nice." Kanda twitched; he should've known. It was really strange to listen to Lavi talk with something he couldn't see, but the proof that something was indeed there was the way the cold mysteriously left him.

Apparently the thing with the shinigami had been resolved a few days prior, and the thing had calmed down enough that Lavi felt it wasn't risky to bring Kanda home again. That brat of a death god didn't want to kill him anymore, but it still didn't like him.

As Kanda pondered ways to skwewer something that he couldn't see, Allen pouted and moved away from him. Just because he'd agreed to put up with the ponytail-wearing jerk didn't mean he liked having him over. Lavi really didn't like it when Kanda was put in danger, so Allen was controling himself and not doing anything too bad. Still….couldn't he at least pick on the guy a little?

Lavi felt like he was stuck between insanity and bliss. He knew he looked like a lunatic, talking to something Kanda couldn't see like this, but at the same time Kanda understood what was going on and didn't seem to mind it. The redhead was really happy that Kanda was accepting this all so quickly, he was thankful that he didn't have to fear for Yuu's life anymore, and he was glad to know that he wouldn't be too alone when he died.

"Can't I just pick on him a little? I mean it's not like making him a bit cold is really gonna hurt him….it'll just annoy him, if nothing else. I'm perfectly content with that." Allen looked like such a kid, pouting and glaring halfheartedly at Kanda as he said that. He even stuck his tongue out, it was so cute!

"Yeah, but if he gets too cold then I'll have to get out the quilt, ya know? And I'm sure you can guess what that means." Lavi knew that nothing would happen if he and Kanda shared that old quilt again. Yuu was too much of a prude to do anything when someone (even someone he couldn't see) was watching, and he wasn't a snuggling type either. But Allen didn't need to know that, he just needed to have enough of an imagination to think up those sorts of scenarios.

And boy, did he. Allen's face went a bit red as he thought up situation after situation that could happen if those two were hidden under a thick blanket together. His pout turned into a scowl, and he sat down on the kitchen counter.

"Oi, what are you making that brat think?" Kanda huffed indignantly. He would not do anything that Lavi was insinuating!

"That's foul play, Lavi…" Allen mumbled, but did his best to stay out of the way. This was fine, it really was. Even if Allen did nothing, Lavi was eventually going to die; shinigami didn't actually do the killing most of the time, they just brought the soul to where it had to go. When that happened he'd be the one closest to Lavi, so if he was just patient and didn't make the redhead too mad at him…

'_I'm a horrible person for thinking like that…'_ Allen sighed and hung his head, he really was horrible. Besides, as much as he was looking forward to an eterinity with this person he didn't really want Lavi to die, either. Lavi was enjoying life, and Allen didn't want to take that away. He had goals, things he wanted to do, it wasn't fair to take that away from him. As someone who loved Lavi, shouldn't he want him to be as happy as possible, regardless of who he was with? That was why he wasn't interfering with his relationship anymore, because he wanted Lavi to be happy. It was selfish to only want his own happiness, and he could wait an extra few decades, or however long it would take… He didn't need to do it himself, right?

Far away in a distant dimension, those feelings set off an alarm that wouldn't be ignored.

000

Before Allen had met someone who could see him, just watching people scurry around doing their business was entertaining enough for him. He'd pet dogs that noticed he was there, idelly comment on human folly, float around and think to himself that his relaxing life was probably a lot better than a human being's. After all, he didn't have to worry about things like pain, anger, sadness, not having a home or enough to eat; he didn't have to worry about being heartbroken either, or being betrayed. And he was never, ever bored.

But now his eyes had been opened. He knew what all of those bad things felt like, and he knew that it would be impossible for him to go back to being the way he was. He knew boredom and real emotion, real _living_ now, he couldn't go back to his empty existence.

All of that was well and good, but at the moment Allen was more or less concentrated on the boredom part. It was always boring when Lavi was in school, because Allen couldn't talk to him while he was studying. All he could do was watch, and while that had once been enough it wasn't anymore. He needed someone with him, it was lonely without someone around to talk to. Not even the animals that could see him were much of a help anymore.

Through the window Allen could see Lavi laughing with those two friends of his, Daisya and Lenalee. Kanda had his head down on the desk as per usual. Allen thought that the stupid ponytail was a bit too ungrateful for his own good. If Allen was the one in that class he'd be sure to pay full attention to Lavi. Honestly, what did the redhead see in that ponytail-sporting girly-man jerk?

"Jealousy only scares lovers away kid." Allen was surprised to hear the deep voice that came from behind him. It was very close to his ear, and the slight breath he could feel on his skin proved that the source of the voice was close, too. Startled, the boy turned around to see a tall man in dark clothing standing up straight. He had a strange mask and long vermilion hair. Allen glared at the man.

The man paid no mind to Allen's rigid posture or his hostile stare, and instead looked into the window.

"It's the redhead, right? Lavi. Gotta say I don't know what you see in guys, they're ugly and they smell."

"Who the hell are you?" Allen said, disregarding this man's assessment of his current love-interest.

"Calm down kid, I'm one of your kind." Allen's eyes widened when he heard this; was this man another shinigami? Allen had never met another of his kind. He knew that others existed, he got orders on his cell phone from them. Still, he'd never come face-to-face with another death god; it was in their nature to work alone.

"One of my kind? I've never seen another death god." If this person really was a death god, then that meant his mask was covering up his seal; the enchanted seal that shinigami were born with stopped human beings from seeing them. Allen's was on the left side of his face.

"Yeah, and that's the way it's supposed to be. You do realize that my being here means you're in hot water, don't you?" The man asked, his grin saying that he didn't really care either way.

"You see, our boss, the one who issues orders, he knows how you're feeling right now. Once every century or so someone is born randomly in the world who can see the death god assigned to them. These gods either get attached or kill their target immediately once they realize that someone can see them."

"What happens to the shinigami who don't kill their charges?" Allen asked, curious as to how this was handled. Clearly Allen had made a mistake in letting Lavi live beyond the moment they had first spoken, at least according to his boss he had. Who the hell was his boss, anyway?

"Well…Those death gods fall to ruin, of course. They have thoughts like "I don't want to kill this person, they're my friend" or "It's okay if I don't kill them, what difference will one person make?" Those thoughts aren't allowed kid, and it would appear you've had them."

"My name is Allen! Don't call me kid." Allen didn't like knowing that something in the universe was monitoring his thoughts, so instead he thought on something else.

"Name…?" The redhead's visible eyebrow rose, as a look of understanding settled onto his face. "I see, you've become particularly attached because you were named, hm? That's happened once or twice before, too. Damn humans can't keep their names to themselves…" The death god rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Look kid-"

"-My name is-"

"-Yeah, yeah, Aaron or whatever… Look, the only reason I'm here is to tell you this: Lavi cannot be allowed anymore time. He's to be dead by the end of the week."

Allen's eyes widened. That couldn't happen, Lavi still had 20 days to live. Why did he have to die so quickly…? It wasn't right. Allen couldn't do this, not now, not ever. He didn't want to kill Lavi, he didn't want to see Lavi die. Sure, the sooner Lavi died the sooner Allen would have him for himself, but Allen didn't want to take Lavi's happiness from him so soon.

"But…Why…?"

"The kid's gotten too involved with you, he's affected you too much. It's getting too hard to predict what is going to happen now, so he's got to go."

"What? That's it? Why should he have to die sooner just over that? I still plan to do my job, so why?"

"Because you don't want to do it anymore. If this is too hard for you, I'll take over this hit."

"No!" Allen didn't want to see Lavi die, but he definitely didn't want Lavi to be taken up by another shinigami, either. He couldn't just hand Lavi off like that…

"Look kid, it's time to wake up. Falling in love, trying to do things like sleep and eat, no matter what you do you'll never be human. Just get out before you're thrown into ruin, too."

Allen knew that. He knew he could never be human, that loving a human being was pointless. Even when Lavi died, they'd still be different beings, wouldn't they be? Lavi would be a soul and Allen would be alive-it was a different kind of living, but he was alive. Even so, he couldn't stop.

"I can't do that…! Don't tell me what I should do when you don't know how I'm feeling!" Allen yelled back, anger clear in his eyes. So what if everything he did was pointless, he could still protect Lavi while the redhead was alive. He wasn't going to let Lavi die, he wasn't going to give into these feelings of depression, and he wasn't going to let this death god get the better of him with his cyinical words.

"Oh but I do Allen," the man said, a strange grin on his face.

"How could you?" Allen asked, his glare becoming a bit watery despite himself. This man couldn't possibly know, Allen felt like he was being belittled.

"Because, my name is Cross." Allen's eyes widened as he realized what that name meant for this person, Cross. The older shinigami sighed and turned away from Allen's suddenly sympathetic expression; if Cross was still here then that must've meant he was forced to kill the person who had named him, didn't it? Allen couldn't imagine anyone facing that decision and being unaffected.

"Yeah, I was named. Pretty thing she was, but fiery. Said I made 'er feel cross so she named me that. It's just a stupid name but it's hard to let go of."

"I'm…"

"Don't pity me yet kid, 'cause I'm just doing to you what they did to me. I'm going to take this operation over since you can't seem to do the job." The dark death god didn't give Allen a chance to respond to that before he disappeared from sight.

000

Allen thought over the things the dark god Cross had told him, and knew instinctually, the same way he knew what he was and what he had to do, that it was true. Shinigami could die, too. No, death gods who disregarded orders got worse than death. If Lavi wasn't dead by the end of the week then they'd both be. But could Allen really do that, could he take Lavi' life to save his own? Granted that for Lavi death wasn't the end whereas for Allen it was but… He didn't think he could do it. Was he prepared to give up his own existence for someone else? Once again, Allen wasn't sure.

As it was, Allen was just concentrating on making sure both he and Lavi lived more than a week. If he could at least make sure Lavi was protected, then it would be easier to think of a way to fix this.

Below him Lavi and Kanda talked over plans to go to an amusement park over the weekend. Goodness, of all the places to go, an amusement park? Those things were filled to the brim with screaming metal death traps! Did they want Lavi dead? Whatever happened to dinner and a movie?

But wait, that was it! As long as Lavi was with Kanda, he'd be safe, right? But Kanda didn't know that Lavi was in danger, did he? Both the redhead and the raven-haired thought that Allen was the only threat and even then he was hardly a threat at all. Allen really didn't want Lavi to panic, knowing that his time had been cut in half, he had to enjoy what could possibly be the last week of his life.

So Allen just had to tell Kanda that there was danger, right? Right. Now the question was, how the hell was he supposed to talk to someone who couldn't see him?

000

The room was dark, which was to be expected as its occupant was sleeping. Allen nearly glowed white in the moonlight that streamed through the window as he moved closer to the boy sleeping on the bed. He wondered if this would work or if he was just being foolish, but either way he definitely had to try.

His hand hovered over Kanda's head for a moment before he disappeared from the room.

000

_Woosh, woosh… the sound of a blade cutting through air. Kanda repeated the basic stances that he had practiced since he was a child, working up to the more difficult ones. He knew this was a dream because the sword in his hand was just that—a sword. When practicing he'd usually use a shinai or a bakuto, there was no need to use a real blade for stances. Besides, the blade he was holding was a precious family heirloom, his dreams were the only place he could use it for anything. _

"_Wow, what a dull dream." _

_Kanda straightened his back at once, and slowly he brought down his sword as he turned to look at the intruder. He raised an eyebrow at what he saw; a scrawny-looking teenager who was pale from the tip of his silver-haired head to his bare toes. Kanda knew without being told who this kind was; Lavi had given quite a detailed description of the death god before. _

"_Huh, so you are real." Well, maybe he wasn't. Kanda had been thinking about the shinigami that plagued Lavi for quite some time, it only made sense that the thing showed up in his dreams eventually. Even so, something told Kanda it was real. _

"_Yep… stupid, ponytail, baKanda, jerk, ingrate, girly…" _

_Kanda scowled at the childish names the shinigami muttered one after the other; granted, he was most of those things (though he'd argue against that girly point to the end of time) but he didn't see why the shinigami would come here just to call him a few names. _

"_Is there a reason you're here, Moyashi?" _

"_M-Moyashi…? Why I'll have you know that I'm tens of lifetimes older than you, so shut up and respect your elders!" _

"_Heh, short and old?"_

"_Ugh… Look, I didn't come here for this!" Allen sighed in exasperation; there would be plenty of time to exchange blows later but for now there were more important things. "Lavi is in danger and-"_

_Kanda's eyes immediately formed a glare as he raised his katana and charged the shinigami. The mention of Lavi being in harm's way had triggered a worse response than Allen had anticipated. _

"_No shit he's in danger! You're the cause of it all!" He slashed forward with every intent to do harm, but Kanda knew something was up when the shinigami didn't even flinch away from the impending attack. He almost expected it when his blade went right through Allen without cutting him. He changed his footing before he fell off-balance and straightened his posture, glaring at the death god before him. _

_Allen was staring back at him with a rather flat look, his shoulders squared; Kanda couldn't imagine how Lavi could think this kid was cute. "I'm a death god, not even in one's dreams could a human kill me." For just a moment there was a flash of color in the boy's eyes, it felt as though his entire being was say he was something higher than Kanda. _

_A moment later though his posture was not so stiff and intimidating. He sighed and shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "Will you just listen to what I have to say now? Listen carefully, too, I don't like having to ask this of you but it's for Lavi's sake." _

_Kanda let the tip of his blade fall to the floor slowly, allowing his glare to decrease. "Then speak, Moyashi. I haven't got all night."_

"_There is another shinigami in the area. He intends to kill Lavi because I haven't. Apparently the proper way to deal with people who can see us is to end their lives right away, but because I didn't someone else has come to do it." _

_Damn, another one? Howe many death gods could one redheaded idiot attract? Kanda had no idea how to get rid of one of them, never mind two. Why did Lavi have to be able to see these things? What was it about him that gave him this troublesome ability? And why on earth did he have to die so soon? Kanda's troubled eyes were downcast._

"_So I need your help, Kanda." Yuu's eyes shot up again; so that's why he was here. "I have power, but I don't know if I can fight against a senior shinigami successfully. You have to help me protect him so that he doesn't die." _

_Kanda raised an eyebrow at this; he was under the impression that Allen wanted Lavi dead. When Lavi died, Allen would be able to monopolize him, right? So why did this death god, who had gone so far as to try and kill Kanda just to get his competition out of the way, want Lavi to live? _

"_I thought that you were looking forward to his death?" Kanda asked. It wasn't like he had any problem with the death god wanting Lavi alive, of course he didn't, but it was odd. _

"_Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm counting down the days," Allen said bluntly; his honesty wasn't appreciated, "but… He's happy here… he doesn't want to die right now… I can't just selfishly do what I want and disregard that, can I?" _

_As Allen looked to the floor with a bittersweet expression on his face, Kanda started to see him as something more than the antagonist in this strange situation. Allen was… sort of like him, wasn't he? He just wanted Lavi happy, happy and alive. There wasn't anything wrong with that. Kanda sighed and made a sour expression; he didn't want to work with a shinigami but if it was to help Lavi, then… _

"_Alright. I will do my utmost to protect him as I am, but you better do your part, too," Kanda said with a determined stare. Allen's expression lit up with gratefulness and for a moment Kanda could almost understand why Lavi thought this thing was so cute. Almost. Kanda did so hate cute things. _

"_Che, you've done what you came here to do, so get the hell outta my head, ya damn trespasser," Kanda said with a halfhearted attempt at irritation. Allen rolled his eyes before turning around and stepping out of the dojo. _

000

Lavi fidgeted with the hem of his long pull-over sweater as he waited in front of his apartment complex for Kanda to pick him up. This was his first date with Yuu-chan, it was an honest-to-goodness date! He was so excited but at the same time he was so nervous. Had he dressed too casually? Maybe he should've worn slacks instead of jeans? The white button-up he had on was pretty casual, but it would've looked a bit more formal if he hadn't worn the loose-fitting knit sweater over it. Maybe he should've worn something less… baggy? More elegant? He had no idea.

'_Ah…! We're just going to the amusement park, people do that all the time and they never get dressed up. Besides, what's the point of trying to impress Yuu-chan at this point in the game? He's seen me in everything from mourning attire to my birthday suit, there's no need to get dressed up…' _Of course even as Lavi tried to reassure himself, he still panicked over his appearance when he saw Kanda coming toward him, looking as impeccable as always. Yuu always had to look so good, didn't he? It was almost unfair. Did he even try?

Kanda came to a stop in front of him, a bit winded from the jog over. "Sorry for the wait," he said with as much of a smile as Lavi had ever seen on his face. Oh goodness, this scenario… so _shojo_. Lavi melted a little.

"N-no problem Yuu-chan. So we're goin' to the amusement park, right? What ride do you wanna start with?" Lavi asked nervously. Kanda seemed to be thinking about something else at the moment though, his eyes were far away.

"_You have to help me protect him so that he doesn't die." _

Suddenly Kanda grabbed Lavi's hand and looked him straight in the eye. "You…absolutely cannot let go of my hand. All day. Got it?" He asked seriously. Lavi's face heated up a bit at the command and he nodded quickly.

"Got it." His heart was going to burst from happiness at this rate.

"Good."

The two continued down the street hand in hand, Lavi chattering on about where he wanted to go that afternoon.

**Ah… Next chapter will probably be the last one. This story just slipped right on by. It's pretty fun… Definitely gonna be some more Laven in the next chapter. Definitely. Kanda can't just hog Lavi after all. **


	5. Death isn't the End

**Ah, the grand Fanale (Saya thinks)! Let's see how this ends, shall we? **

**Disclaimer: the story idea belongs to Mimori Ao, the characters to Katsura Hoshino. Saya just owns the idea of putting the two together. **

**Rating: T-ish in this chapter. Rating might go up, but Saya isn't so sure. **

**5. Death isn't the End**

Lavi was pretty sure this was the happiest day he'd ever had the pleasure of living through. Yuu was his, all his, and they were going on a date together. What's more, Yuu was even saying such adorable things about holding hands all day. Lavi had been waiting for this day ever since he'd become aware of his feelings as a child, and it was already so much better than he'd ever imagined it. And to think, they hadn't even reached the amusement park yet. Clearly, this was going to be the best day of his life.

So he'd might as well say as much.

"Ya know Yuu, I think this has been the best day of my life. I'm really happy that you're here with me now," Lavi said honestly, feeling embarrassed even as he looked at Kanda's slightly widened eyes. He didn't care if he died in a week or two, there was nothing he'd left undone, nothing to regret not doing.

For a moment he just watched as a blush crept up Yuu's face, but then a moment later he was wincing as Kanda hit him over the head. It didn't actually hurt that much, and for someone as strong as Yuu it was probably more of a love tap than anything, but Lavi still had to scowl at the action.

"Hey, I was just being honest, what's with the violence?" He pouted as he asked Kanda.

"Baka! Now is not the time to be saying that," Kanda said, turning away as he felt his face heating up even more. "I'll make sure you're even happier in the future." Yuu sort of wanted to sink into the ground and die he was so embarrassed, but he definitely wanted Lavi to know that he was going to make sure the redhead kept living. He wanted Lavi to know that he wasn't going to give him up so easily.

For a minute Lavi just stared at Yuu in awe, amazed that he could say something like that. It was such a hopeful statement, too; Lavi really hoped that they would maybe have that happy future. As Kanda motioned for the redhead to follow him across the street, Lavi remembered that he wasn't supposed to let go of Yuu today.

"Ah, wait Yuu!" Lavi called, crossing the street himself. However, something strange came over him and suddenly he just couldn't move his legs. No matter how much he told himself to move forward he just couldn't.

It was because Lavi was so concentrated on moving out of the road that he heard the truck coming before he saw it. He was completely paralyzed with fear now, even if he could move he didn't think he'd make it out of the way in time.

'_So I'm really gonna die now,'_ he thought as he watched the approaching headlights.

Kanda heard Lavi's call to stop and turned around just in time to see him standing in the middle of the street, frozen in place. Immediately he ran back, wondering all the while why the hell Lavi wasn't moving. The truck that was screeching as it tried to break wasn't going to be able to stop in time, and for a moment Kanda was unsure of whether he'd be able to get Lavi out of the way. But then that mysterious something came over him too, and before he knew it he was rolling out of the way of the truck, Lavi in his arms.

Judging from the horrific pain in his shoulder, Kanda had to assume that he'd just dislocated it. Lavi was groaning into his chest, shifting onto his hands and knees so that he could get up. His eyes widened a bit when he saw the pain that briefly flitted across the older boy's face. He'd moved Kanda's shoulder a bit, and it was not pleasant.

"Yuu! Are you alright? Oh God I'm so sorry. I don't know why I stopped or why I didn't even look before I started crossing over but… I'm sorry!" Lavi rattled out in one shaky breath as he slowly, carefully helped Kanda sit up. As careful as he was, Kanda still had to wince a bit as he moved.

"Not… your fault," Kanda said through grit teeth and he tried not to hiss at the pain. He took a deep breath to get over the feeling in his shoulder. "I'm the one who told you not to let go of me, and then walked away."

"But—"

"My fault. Shut up."

Lavi wanted to look annoyed or hurt by Kanda's final tone, but he couldn't muster up anything more than an upset expression. Kanda tried to get the glare off his face (which was directed toward the ache in his shoulder) long enough to talk to Lavi without making him feel worse.

"Are you alright, Lavi?" He asked, making the redhead blink. Clearly Lavi was alright, it was Kanda that was in pain! He nodded quickly, but stopped when he felt Kanda's hand on his head.

"That's good," Kanda said his tone softer than before and relieved-sounding. Lavi felt a mix of relief and guilt as Yuu smoothed his hair down. It was his fault Kanda was hurt, and yet he was the one being consoled, how pathetic.

"U-um, I called for an ambulance." A woman from the gathering crowd came up behind Kanda, her cell phone still in hand. "Are the two of you alright?"

Lavi was about to say that clearly Yuu was not alright, but Kanda beat him to it by answering with a quick "Yes". A little while later the two of them were brought to the hospital.

000

"Why did you do that?" Allen angrily floated over to where Cross was in the sky that loomed over the road. Cross' hand was still hovering in the air, though it quickly went lax and dropped to his side. The damn brat had stopped him in the middle of a job; clearly that was not proper etiquette.

"You could have killed him!"

Cross scoffed at Allen, rolling his eye. "I don't think you understand the 'death' part of 'Death god.' The point was that he's _supposed_ to die, idiot."

"But…" Allen clenched his fists, angry. He knew he was in the wrong here, he knew Lavi was supposed to die, but why? What had Lavi done to deserve this? It was unfair, there were worse people to kill, and there were people that were just about ready to die anyway, so why should Lavi die, innocent and early?

"Lavi is a good person. He hasn't done anything wrong, so why should he die…?"

"I don't know why he's gotta die kid, I just know that he does. You can't save people out of pity, if all of us just said 'They're a good person' and moved on, do you know how much chaos there would be? Think about why you're here, you idiot!" Cross' expression was fierce as he glared down at the younger shinigami. Allen didn't understand why he was so angry, what reason had Cross to be so annoyed? Allen was the one who was supposed to be upset here, and Cross knew how this all felt so why was he insisting on this anyway?

"Why, if you know how this all feels, then why are you doing this?" Allen stared determinedly into Cross' eyes, silently demanding an answer. The taller man glared right back for a moment, before giving an irritated sigh.

"Look, is it so wrong for me to want to preserve my own species? Humans die one way or another, you might save him from me but another shinigami could be with him right now, doing your job for you. What's the point of you dying for someone who will die either way?"

"I…" Allen had no answer for that; he just knew that he wanted Lavi to stay here, where he was happiest. "I don't know, but that doesn't matter!" He declared boldly. Cross' patience with the boy was wearing thin.

"Look, if you don't someone else will. Do you want the person you love to be killed by a stranger? Because I will be that stranger. The least you could do for the kid is show his soul to Heaven yourself, right?"

Allen did not reply, he just stood, wide-eyed and silent, stuck in his thoughts.

000

Lavi's face was expressionless as he waited in the hall outside the room Kanda had been brought to. They were at the hospital now, and it had been determined that neither of them were wounded too horribly and they could leave as soon as the doctor set Kanda's shoulder back into place. Lavi just had to wait outside of this room until Kanda came out, and then they could leave.

As much as Yuu had insisted that it was his fault for letting Lavi go, and indeed he had insisted on this throughout the ride to the hospital, Lavi still blamed himself. He'd let go of Kanda too, hadn't he? So wouldn't that make the fault at least partially his? He was definitely the one who'd stopped in the middle of the street for no reason, too. Why had he done something so ridiculous? If only he hadn't done that, he could've been out of the way and no one would've gotten hurt at all.

"Oi, stop looking so depressed already. I'm fine, see?" Lavi looked up to see Kanda giving him a slightly annoyed look. Really, it wasn't as though he'd died or anything, why was Lavi so upset?

The redhead's hands clenched into fists on his knees and lowered his head again. "I'm sorry, Yuu… It's because you were with me, and I'm supposed to die… You're getting hurt, too." Surely that was it; there was no other reason why he would've frozen up like that when he did. Perhaps Allen had decided now was the time to make him die, or maybe he'd gotten a call that said Lavi needed to be taken care of quickly? Either way, it was probably his own fault that Kanda was injured.

Kanda scowled and sat down next to Lavi on the bench. "The shinigami you keep talking about, he's a kid right? A real pale one who's white from head to toe? And that strange scar down his face, that moyashi is the death god, right?"

Lavi looked up at Kanda and blinked in confusion; why was Kanda describing Allen to him?

"U-uh, yeah, that's him," Lavi confirmed, his eyebrows knitting together at the strange question.

"He came to me the other night, saying that we both had to work hard to protect you," Kanda said, dispelling Lavi's doubts about Allen. "He showed up in my dream, called me some names, and then said that another death god was after you, so we'd both had to protect you."

Lavi's eye was wide; Allen had been hoping to protect him? So in that case, the reason he'd frozen where he did was because another death god had stopped him? This was getting ridiculous; just how many death gods could go after one person? Surely Allen would get into trouble because of this, too. He wasn't supposed to protect his charges from death, after all.

'_He even went so far as to ask Yuu for help…'_ Lavi wondered what he'd done to get such a person on his side.

"Kanda-san! Please come here for a moment!" The call came from down the hall, and Kanda nodded in response as he stood.

"I'll be back in a minute," he said, and walked toward the doctor. His figure was quickly replaced by another.

"Feels like I haven't seen you in a while, Allen," Lavi said in lieu of a greeting, and motioned for the boy to sit down. But instead of taking the offer, Allen continued to stand as he looked down at him with an unreadable expression. The boy seemed gravely resolute.

"Oh, right! You've been trying to save me, haven't you Allen? Yuu told me about it," Lavi said with a smile, wanting nothing more than to cheer the boy up; Allen had saved him, after all. "Thank you so much Allen for trying to save me. I'm glad to have met you."

"I'm sorry." The boy's expression suddenly darkened, and for a moment Lavi's eye concentrated on the fresh tears that were quickly making their way down the boy's face. The redhead's eyes widened as he watched, and then he could only see white as Allen hugged him; it was a strange, hot and cold embrace. He felt a hand run over the back of his hair before stopping, and then suddenly he felt light and disconnected, as though he wasn't really in his body anymore. His eye widened then closed, as Allen repeated his apology to him.

000

Kanda sighed as he walked away from the doctor; the guy wanted him to come back in a week to check up on his shoulder, it was such a pain. It'd taken way too long to schedule one.

"Lavi, we can go no—Lavi?" Kanda furrowed his brows when he saw Lavi slumped over on the bench. Not even the rabbit brat could fall asleep so quickly, this was worrying.

"Hey, get up," Kanda called, placing his hands on Lavi's shoulders. The redhead didn't even stir. "Get up, this isn't funny!" he called again, shaking the other's shoulders. There was no response. Kanda's heart clenched as fear enveloped him. No, no, no, no, this couldn't be happening. Lavi couldn't just die like this, it wasn't right, it wasn't fair.

Almost frantically, Kanda checked for anything that would give the impression of life. He was still breathing, though it was shallow, there was still a weak heartbeat. Lavi was still alive, but he wasn't responding. There was still time.

Kanda ran back to the doctor he'd seen moments ago. He was not going to let Lavi go this time.

000

"It's a shame, he's only 18 and yet…"

"His pulse is getting weaker and the doctors have no idea what's wrong with him."

"What about the boy staying with him? It would be horribly sad if such a dedicated friend was left behind."

"If this carries on…"

Kanda wished the nurses would shut up. They weren't in the room with him, but the door was half open and he could hear every dismal word they said. It had been two days since Lavi had lost consciousness in the hospital, and no one had any idea why he'd suddenly gone into a coma like he had. There seemed to be no hope for the case, and since Lavi had no known living relatives Yuu knew they'd pull the plug the moment Lavi's heartbeat stopped. They probably would not try to save him, they probably couldn't anyway.

He shook these morbid thoughts out of his head and held Lavi's cool hand tighter in his. Lavi was supposed to be warm; it was always Kanda who had cold hands. He had to be strong though, because if he gave up on Lavi and resigned himself to the other's death, then he would have no right to say he ever loved him. So he had to stay here, watch for any signs of life. He had to be something he never was, hopeful.

"Still sitting there, still as a statue, huh?" Daisya's voice came from the doorway. Kanda looked up to see that Lenalee was there, too. They'd come to visit every day, both to check up on Lavi and to make sure that Kanda didn't starve himself or forget to change, or something ridiculous like that. "Daisya, now is hardly the time," Lenalee scolded her friend for picking on poor Yuu at a time like this. "So has anything changed?"

"Nothing. He's just gotten weaker," Kanda answered in a mechanical voice, his mouth was working even though his mind wasn't. The two walked into the room and kneeled on either side of Kanda's worried form.

"Well hey you can't give up hope yet, right? I mean he's still alive, he could easily wake up," Lenalee said, trying to raise Kanda's spirits. The boy had been so impossibly still and silent since Lavi had fallen unconscious, it was almost hard to tell which person in the room was in a coma.

"Yes, Lavi will probably wake up, stretch and yawn out loud, mumbling about not wanting to go to school. Then we can all yell at him for making us worry, and celebrate his getting better. Lavi's surely doing his best, so we've got to keep our hopes up for him, right?" Daisya added, hoping a bit of humor would maybe lighten the mood. It would be just perfect if Lavi woke up as though nothing was wrong.

Kanda let something close to a hopeful smile grace his lips before looking up at the two.

"Right."

000

"So this is the place, huh?" Lavi asked over his shoulder. Allen shook his head behind him.

"This is just where you stay while you undergo trial. It'll take about a week for the court to decide whether you should go to Heaven or Hell. Until that's decided, you'll stay here," Allen said. The two were standing before the gates of purgatory, which looked something like a five-star hotel. Not so bad, in Lavi's humble opinion. He'd certainly never stepped foot in any place so high-class.

"I… I really am sorry, Lavi," Allen said for what was probably the twentieth time since Lavi had died. Once again he waved it off.

"Don't sweat it kid, it was your job and all. I'd have died eventually anyway. I'm just glad you're the one who brought me here, you know?" Lavi said with a smile. It both relieved Allen and made his heart clench painfully with guilt. Lavi was far too forgiving.

"Well, guess there's nothing to do but go in and hope I go to the good place, right?" Lavi asked rhetorically. Allen nodded in response and led him into the land of the dead.

Just passing through the gates of purgatory made everything seem so much more final to Lavi. He wanted to go back and stay with Yuu and his friends, but at the same time he knew the dead couldn't come back to life. In just a few days time his body would surely be buried and there would be nothing for him to return to. He'd accepted this, the fact that one cannot come back to life, and was resigned to it now that he was actually dead.

Of course, if he had known he wasn't actually dead, he might've been a bit more motivated to find a way back to his body. As it was though, not even Allen knew that Lavi's body was still alive.

The two were led to the room that Lavi would be staying in while he was judged by a maid who gave them strange looks the entire time. The room was large with tatami matting and a few futons put away in the corner, but otherwise there was nothing in it. This entire deal seemed so surreal; Lavi still couldn't really believe he was dead. He still felt alive, he was still interacting with people as though he were alive. But then he'd heard that physical death wasn't the real "death" once. It was a distant memory, but once someone had said that real "death" was a separation from God. Maybe that's why he still felt alive, because this death wasn't complete?

Lavi got out a futon and made himself at home, figuring that he might as well since there was no going back to the living world. Allen seemed hesitant to follow suit; it was as though he was the one reluctant to face death. Lavi would've laughed at the irony but the mood was too tense.

Once they were all good and settled in, Allen once again bowed his head to Lavi. The redhead was half-tempted to slap Allen for this.

"I'm sorry for this, Lavi."

"This again? Allen, ya know I don't blame you-"

"-But I wanted to protect you! I wanted you to keep living but…God said I couldn't change fate…"

Lavi remembered what Kanda had told him earlier about Allen coming to him for help. The kid had even gone so far as to work with someone he hated, all to try and keep Lavi safe. In this case, the fact that Allen had tried was enough for Lavi.

Lightly, Lavi pat Allen's head in a consoling manner while giving his most gentle smile. "It's okay, really. You did your best, alright? No need to apologize for that. Besides, because of you I died without regrets! Thank goodness it was you who took me."

Despite himself, Allen's vision became watery and he hung his head. There was just something about the fact that Lavi was grateful to him, that he was glad to have met Allen. It pulled at his heart and made him want to cry, though from what he wasn't entirely sure.

"Ah—you're crying! Geez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset ya—"

"—I'm not crying…"

"…You're definitely crying."

"I am not, so stop being nosy! S-something just got in my eye is all!" Allen pouted and crossed his arms. He might've felt like crying, but he definitely wasn't. Yet. Lavi just smiled at his stubbornness and pulled him into a hug. The kid was just so cute! Lavi chuckled a bit as Allen attempted to squirm out of the embrace, blushing.

After a moment silence fell over them, and the two rearranged themselves for comfort's sake, lying on the floor. They hadn't really been silent since Lavi died, it almost felt like they were trying to avoid it if they could. But now it had fallen over them like a gentle blanket, much more comfortable than either of them had expected.

'_So I'm really dead now, huh…?'_ Lavi thought to himself as he sighed and closed his eyes. He was oddly at ease here; at this rate he would fall asleep…

"_Lavi!" _

Lavi's eyes snapped open and he jolted a bit. Allen stirred against his chest, and gave him a questioning look.

"_Lavi!"_

"Daisya?" Lavi mumbled to himself, he was sure that was who he was hearing. But that was impossible, he was dead and Daisya was not, or at least he hoped the boy wasn't.

"_His pulse is still getting weaker, just like yesterday."_

And now Yuu's voice, too? This was so odd. Why was he hearing them? This was so unfair, he'd resigned himself to this and yet he was still hearing their voices? It was like torture. More than anything, Lavi wanted this to stop. Shaking the voices from his head, Lavi sat back up, unwilling to hear anymore. He didn't bother thinking about what his two friends had been saying.

"Hey Allen, I was wondering about some things and I figure that since we've got the time, I might as well ask," Lavi said, hoping to get Allen talking. If it was too quiet he might start hearing things from the other side again. Really, he hadn't had anything particular to ask about, but he was sure he could make up a few good questions that would have them talking for hours.

Allen sat up and leaned back on his arms, giving Lavi a curious look. "Go ahead and ask then."

"Why could I see you when no one else could?" Lavi had questioned that a while ago, though now it seemed like a pointless thing to wonder about. Still, if it kept the room from falling into silence…

"I don't know why you can see me, but I do know why no one else can," Allen said preparing to go off on a very lecture-like explanation. "You see this weird scar on my face? It's not just for decoration and I wasn't hurt or anything. It's a seal I was born with that stops most living things from seeing me. Some animals still can, and apparently once every century or so someone like you pops up, but for the most part no one can see me because of it."

"Ah, I see," Lavi said, nodding, "But if you were born with it and you haven't really spoken with anyone before you met me, then how do you know what it is?"

"Death gods aren't like humans," Allen said as though it were obvious. Lavi supposed in some ways it was, but Allen looked so human that it was difficult to remember that point. "We are born fully grown, knowing everything we'll ever need to know. From the moment we come into existence we know our purpose, we know we can't be seen, we know of our powers, of other shinigami, and we know how to use the cell phones we're conveniently born with."

"Wait, so you've always known that other shinigami exist, but you never bothered to look for one and… I dunno, stick together or something?" Lavi asked. If he had to lead a life like Allen's while knowing that there were others like himself out there, he wouldn't hesitate to find someone to stay around, if only for the sake of never being bored.

"Well, our first instinct is to do our job, not socialize. There's only a few shinigami, and we've got a whole world to cover. It's very rare for two shinigami to meet since we're so far away from each other. Usually that only happens when someone has done something wrong…" Allen fidgeted for a moment and looked down as Lavi connected what the boy said to their situation; another shinigami had tried to kill Lavi, which meant Allen had gotten in trouble. Lavi felt a bit guilty for knowing he was the cause of it.

"Geez, being a death god sounds… tough, I guess. I don't really know. What was it like for you, before we met? Never thought to ask before, but I really know nothing about you outside of the stuff about you being a shinigami." Lavi was suddenly quite curious about this. After all, Allen might be the only company he had for a good long while; he really ought to try his hardest to learn about the boy.

"Ah, well," Allen seemed to be a bit embarrassed by the idea of talking about himself. It was sort of cute to Lavi. "I came to be about 200 years ago—oh don't look so surprised. But yeah… 200 years ago I just sort of… woke up in some obscure little village way to the north of Japan, near Russia. I knew what I was supposed to do; I was in charge of these islands and the borders of a few of the closer countries…

"I remember getting very bored, very quickly. The nearest shinigami was somewhere in China, and I really couldn't go that far. So I just stayed in my territory, and went from place to place, taking the souls I was supposed to. Somehow there was enough time for me to stick around in some places. I remember watching families after their loved ones had died; they were so disgusting, I didn't understand humans at all. They cried for a few days, and then started arguing among themselves about money and possessions. Every once in a while someone would ignore all of that, but for the most part everyone just became greedy. I don't understand the value of money, so I can't understand why people do this.

"I liked dogs though, because they could see me and they weren't money-hungry or anything. Sometimes they'd follow me around and let me pet them. I guess they made me feel a bit less lonely. Watching people go about their lives before they died made me feel that way, so often the person was happy and unaware of what was coming. I wondered what made people feel like that, if it was something they felt on their own or if it had to do with the others around them. I thought on these things and studied humans as I went on with daily life.

"Recently I started wondering if there was something better out there, something more entertaining than being a death god. I mean, it's not like I can just decide to stop being one, but if I could, what would be best…? Humans, I don't think I really liked them, but they always seem to be having fun in one way or another. Of course, all alone I can't even pretend to be one, but just as I was thinking 'it'd be nice to try,' you came along.

"So basically, life was boring and repetitive and sort of depressing before I met you," Allen finished with a sigh; goodness, it sounded so dreary hearing it from his own mouth like that. Lavi seemed exceptionally engrossed though, he also seemed more than a bit sympathetic toward Allen.

"Well, I'm glad you're not alone anymore! You'll never have to be again, okay Allen? You can visit me in Heaven anytime, okay? So be sure to come by as often as you can!" Lavi seemed very determined to make sure Allen was never alone again, and the boy couldn't help but wonder why. It was touching though, Allen felt so good knowing that Lavi cared enough to be upset by something that seemed so small to him.

"I'll stop by every chance I get," Allen said with a warm smile.

000

A week had gone by with Allen, and Lavi was finally accepting that this is what death was like. It wasn't eternal darkness or disappearing for good and it felt no different from being alive really, except that he didn't have to eat or sleep, though he could still do both. Everything was fine during the day, but as soon as night fell he started to hear his friends again, and he didn't know why. He always tried to block out their voices, he didn't want to hear whatever it was they were saying. It would remind him of living and he would miss it.

As it was, he had hardly left the room he'd been given all week, and neither had Allen as for as Lavi knew. The boy was just sort of always there, which was strange considering he was in charge of such a large area of people. Didn't tens of thousands of people die a day in Japan? Maybe only certain people needed to have their souls guided to Heaven and maybe some just knew how to get there? Whatever the case was, Allen seemed to have nothing better to do than sit around and talk with Lavi, which was just fine with the redhead.

Lavi yawned as he sat up in his futon. Waking up didn't feel like waking up here, or perhaps it was sleeping that different? There was no feeling of fatigue, so there was no sense of renewal after sleeping. By his side Allen was laying on another futon, just staring at the ceiling as he was apt to do; apparently he couldn't sleep no matter where he was. Lavi yawned a bit again before leaning over and placing a light kiss on Allen's forehead.

He hadn't forgotten that he was to be Allen's after he died, but it would probably take a while for him to actually treat Allen in a clearly amorous sort of way. He realized Yuu would die one day too and therefore a bit of a problem might arise, but he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. Besides, there would only be a problem if Kanda somehow managed to _not _find someone better than him in the whole wide world. The thought of being replaced in Kanda's heart was more than a little irksome, but Lavi certainly had no right to interfere now.

Allen flushed at the contact of lips to his skin; he was such an innocent that way. He sat up and gave Lavi a hug, one that lasted several minutes because neither of them really felt like moving. It wasn't like there was much else to do anyway, as far as Lavi knew.

Apparently for Allen there was something though, as abruptly he broke away from the older-looking boy and stood up.

"I nearly forgot, today's the day they decide where you go," Allen said, sounding rushed. "Oh, what time is it? I can't be late to the hearing…" Allen paced about for a minute before thinking to check his cell phone. Lavi laughed a bit and idly wondered just why time was needed in a place like this. Allen made a face that clearly said he needed to go now, and Lavi was still chuckling when he said a quick goodbye.

Lavi yawned as he got ready to spend the day waiting for his verdict. He was really hoping for a good one, because he'd heard more than a few unpleasant things about Hell in his lifetime and didn't want to spend his afterlife finding out if those things were true.

However, he stopped thinking on those things when he heard them again, the voices of his friends. Just hearing them made him feel like he was already in a hell of sorts, and he desperately wanted to silence them.

'_Just go away, go away, go awa-'_

"_What do you mean you're going to pull the plug on him?!" _

Pull the plug? That was Kanda's voice yelling just then, but what was he talking about? Was someone else dying, too?

"_Lavi-san has no relatives to speak of, and his medical insurance will only pay for life support for so long. In this case, the people who have any say in the matter have decided that if he doesn't wake up by next week we should take him off of life support." _

"_So you're going to kill him just because of that? You're a doctor for Heaven's sake, shouldn't you be determined to save his life!?" _It was Daisya's voice yelling, not Kanda's this time. Lavi could assume Lenalee was with him.

"_How can you expect us to do that when we have no idea what's wrong with him? At this rate, he'll die by the end of the week even if we don't pull the plug." _

"_Shouldn't you wait and see if that actually happens before you just decide that he will?"_

"_We're sorry, Kanda-san, but this is beyond my control."_

Wait. Oh goodness, wait. So Lavi's body was on life support? _Life_ support? It wasn't cold and buried in the ground? Didn't that mean that Lavi was physically still alive? Was that why he didn't feel particularly dead, because he wasn't? Why had no one told him he was alive?

Immediately Lavi stood up from where he sat and for once tried his hardest to listen to Kanda's voice as he argued with the doctor who was apparently in charge of Lavi's case. Now that he paid close attention, the voice wasn't actually in his head so much as it was coming from somewhere else. Lavi didn't know his way around Purgatory's complex. He would follow the sound anyway.

Goodness, what a fool he'd been! To think just a few moments before he was worried about going to Hell, thinking he was really dead! But he wasn't, his soul just wasn't in the right place. He needed to get back, there had to be a way back. Now that he knew he was alive, he wanted to fight for life, he wanted to go back! If he just followed the sound of Yuu's voice…!

He ran down hall after hall, not caring who he bumped into. Lavi was determined to find the source of that beloved voice; he hoped it would lead him back to his body, back to Earth. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of running he stopped before a door; the sound was definitely originating from the room on the other side. He just had to go in and hopefully he'd find his way home.

The door slid open easily, and Lavi rushed in, closing it silently behind him. When he finally took a look around the room, he saw the place the voice had come from. On the far wall there hung a long mirror that hovered just above a small pond. The mirror did not reflect the room or the pond however; instead it reflected a hospital room. His hospital room. Lenalee and Daisya were in the doorway, and right between Yuu and an aging doctor Lavi's body lay, looking pale and worse for wear, but alive. He was still alive, he really was. How could he have ever given up so easily? He ran to the mirror, touched its glass, but the moment he did it turned black under his fingers.

000

Allen was excited to tell Lavi that he'd been sent to Heaven. He wanted the redhead to be eternally happy there, since he couldn't save his life. Securing Lavi a place there was the least he could do to make up for that. He panicked when he arrived at Lavi's room only to find that he was no longer there. Lavi didn't like leaving the room; he'd said he didn't want to bother exploring a place he wasn't going to stay in. Allen immediately left and began his hunt for Lavi.

Of course, he had no idea where the guy would go and Purgatory wasn't really a small place, he could be anywhere. Of all the times for the redhead to get lost! He checked every room along the hall, hoping that perhaps Lavi had just taken a wrong turn while trying to go back to his own and ended up in a vacant one. It didn't take long before he found a room that wasn't empty. For a moment he hesitated at the door; he could hear something that sounded like crying coming from the other side. Maybe this was the room of someone new who wasn't coping well with death? It would be rude to barge in. Still, he had to check!

When Allen opened the door, he knew immediately he'd found the right one. Kneeling before a pond that reflected a mirror, Lavi was sniffling away, trying to stop his tears from falling now that he'd heard someone enter the room.

Allen was pretty sure that this was the first time he'd seen Lavi really cry. It was so upsetting, he'd hoped he'd never see Lavi's crying face. Why was he so sad, anyway? Allen walked slowly over to him, not wanting to startle him any more than he already had.

"Lavi, what's-"

"-I-I'm still alive."

"Huh?" How could that be? Lavi's soul was here, it was going to go to Heaven soon, he couldn't be alive.

"I've been h-hearing them all week, the v-voices of my friends, of Yuu, everyone… I thought it was just me at first, but when I came in here, they were reflected in the mirror…" Lavi mumbled under his breath as it stopped shaking. "Please Allen!" –The redhead was suddenly at Allen's feet, taking his hands and looking up at him imploringly- "I don't care what happens to me now, I'll do my best not to cause you trouble, but I want to see them again! Yuu was right there a moment ago, I want to see that again!"

Just once, he'd be okay if he could just say goodbye, even if it was only to a reflection.

Allen's eyes widened as he listened to Lavi go on. If Lavi was still alive, then why was he here? And why should he stay here? Lavi said he just wanted to see them, but really Allen knew he wanted to be back. He wanted to go back to Earth.

"Please," Lavi was begging, Allen had never seen him this undone, "Just let me see them…"

"Lavi," Allen said, stopping the redhead from saying anymore. He put his hands on Lavi's shoulders to steady him. "Go back to Kanda's side."

For a moment Lavi blinked owlishly up at Allen. When the mirror had gone black, he was sure that meant there was no way for him to return, he was so sure that meant he was really and truly dead even though his body wasn't yet. But Allen's face was serious; he looked as though he thought this was truly possible.

"This world should be connected to yours, there has to be a way to get you back there," Allen continued, his expression serious. "I don't know if this will work, but we should still try." The shorter of the two walked over to the mirror and pressed his hand flat against the glass. It shimmered and seemed to ripple with power.

"But wait a second..!" Lavi ran over to grab Allen and stop him; this was against the rules wasn't it? It wasn't possible anyway; Allen himself said that they couldn't fight fate. "Won't you get in trouble if you try to save me? You told me just the other day that shinigami get punished when they go against fate!"

Allen was too busy concentrating on the mirror to listen to Lavi. He didn't care if he got into trouble, he didn't care what happened to himself at all. Lavi would be happier with his friends right now, he'd be happier with Kanda right now, and that was all that mattered. After a moment it seemed Allen's efforts had paid off as an image shakily came to the glass pane. Lavi's slowly dying body was shown in the mirror, along with Kanda, who was now alone in the room again, his expression pained.

Lavi stopped trying to force Allen away from the mirror. He was too captivated by the image to say anything more. However just as the image came to the screen the door was shoved open forcefully. The two turned around to see Cross in the doorway, looking angry.

"What do you think you snots are doing?!" He yelled, storming up to them. Allen quickly turned away from the other shinigami and shoved Lavi into the shallow waters of the pond.

"Quickly Lavi, get inside!" Allen said as he kept pushing the redhead toward the glass. He then took a protective stance in front of his charge and glared at Cross.

"I am going to save him!" He declared his determined stare was matched with an angry one.

"Don't you care what will happen to yourself?" Cross yelled. "Don't you care that you will disappear? You can't come back the way humans do!"

"I don't care," Allen answered firmly. Lavi looked sharply at Allen; what was going to happen as a result of this? He'd been told that shinigami get punished, but he didn't know the punishment was true and eternal death. He couldn't let Allen just disappear because of him, it wasn't right.

"Wait a minute Allen! If you'll disappear forever it isn't worth it-"

"It is! Besides, no one really knows what happens when shinigami die, no one can say that I won't come back!"

Lavi backed away from the mirror and got out of the water. He wasn't going to let Allen disappear because of him. It wasn't fair that Allen had to die, truly and permanently die, just to stop Lavi from going to the afterlife. At least if Lavi died, he'd still exist somewhere, but if Allen did then…!

"No! I'm not going Allen, this isn't fair! You, shinigami in the black! I'm just gonna die peacefully so you make sure this idiot doesn't disappear, ya hear me?" Lavi yelled to Cross as he stuck to the wall adjacent to the mirror. Cross nodded as though he'd made the right choice.

Allen, on the other hand, chuckled and put his hand to Lavi's cheek. "That's what I love about you, Lavi," he said with a smile, "Even though I was so immature and horrible, you want to save me." Lavi looked down at the boy's serene face; it was as though nothing would make him happier than saving Lavi now. He leaned forward and gave Lavi a gentle kiss that stunned the redhead. Allen had never initiated anything more than a hug. That kiss was so sweet, just like the boy who'd given it.

Without his bidding, Lavi's body moved back toward the water. He felt as though he'd lost control of his body, and wondered if that was the effect of Allen's kiss, or something else.

"I'm really glad you gave me a name, Lavi, and I promise this is worth it. So please be happy, okay?" Allen said kindly as the two stepped before the mirror. He hugged Lavi from behind one last time as the taller boy looked down.

"Don't Allen… Don't disappear…!"

"Good bye."

Lavi fell through the glass, remembering everything that had happened since he'd met the death god. This wasn't what he wanted, he'd gladly die peacefully if Allen would just live! This wasn't worth it, it wasn't…!

Lavi's eyes felt heavy as he opened them. The sounds of electric beeping filled his ears, along with the soft breathing of someone else. The air smelt funny and there was something on his face. Lavi turned his head to the side to see Kanda staring at him with wide eyes.

"L-Lavi…?" Kanda was still for a moment as he watched Lavi blink at him, and then suddenly rocketed out of his seat. "Thank goodness! Just wait for a moment; I'll go get a doctor!" He said hurriedly, before running out of the room. Lavi was grateful to be alone for a moment as he got reacquainted with living.

The ceiling above him was shimmering; Lavi imagined that was the portal his soul had just traveled through. It disappeared a moment later. A tear trickled down the side of his face as he imagined what his living meant for Allen.

But he was alive now, and for Allen's sake he'd live to the fullest.

000

"We need to buy more than just ramen you idiot!"

"Why? It's cheap and it's good, no need for more!"

Lavi walked side by side with Yuu through the market, debating what they would and would not need to stock their apartment with. They were university students now, sharing an apartment near their university together. Lavi had not died even after his original time was up, and now he was attending classes with Kanda, living with him, acting like some sort of hen-pecked husband as Kanda went on about how Lavi really needed to eat healthier because sodium was really truly going to be the death of him.

Lavi was still living as happily as he ever had, even happier than that on most days, and he never forgot who he had to thank for that. He was going to live the life Allen had given him to the fullest, and so he was throwing himself into it with everything he had.

"Can't we just get a little though? I mean our budget really doesn't allow for—ah!" Lavi gave a small gasp as something solid connected with his chest. His hands immediately came up to catch the object and he looked down to see a shock of silvery hair. His heart stopped for a moment as the person—a child really—looked up at him with wide, summer-storm eyes. For a moment the two just stared at each other, recognition in Lavi's eyes. As for the boy, he looked as though he was experiencing déjà vu.

"A-Alle-"

"-E-excuse me!" The boy said politely, embarrassed for having stared so long. He broke out of Lavi's loose grip and ran past him, his face a bit red. Lavi looked to Kanda, who'd seen the whole thing, and Kanda looked back. Lavi then looked back and forth between Kanda and the retreating figure.

"Yuu—that wasn't—was it?"

Kanda turned Lavi's face forward, his expression a mix of denial and disbelief. "Just don't think about," he said with a sigh, and the two walked on. Lavi was undeniably happier though, inside he was celebrating.

Yes, death wasn't really the end!

**Saya should just say now that she doesn't believe in reincarnation, she doesn't believe that everyone goes to heaven just because their "a good person" and that the religious views portrayed in this story may or may not be her own. Yeah. And there you go, the ending! Saya actually really likes this ending. She didn't wanna kill Allen off completely, so he gets to randomly pop up at the end. Go Allen, you shall never be defeated!!**

**And sorry about the lateness of this post…Saya just sort of forgot about it while diving head-first into a new fandom… **


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